President Donald Trump accused Canada of imposing massive tariffs on American farmers for years after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory duties targeting U.S. steel and dairy products following the collapse of trade negotiations in Washington.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Canada on Sunday after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs against the United States, marking a new escalation in a trade dispute that has fractured relations between the longtime allies.
“Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!” he added.
Trump’s comments came one day after Carney announced that Canada would retaliate against new U.S. trade measures following the breakdown of negotiations in Washington. The Canadian tariffs, scheduled to take effect Sept. 8, will notably target American steel and dairy industries, with Carney saying additional details would be released next week.
The breakdown followed discussions that had initially appeared to make progress. Trump had previously said Washington “should be able to have a deal with Canada,” pointing to what he described as his “good relationship” with Carney.
Those negotiations ended Friday without an agreement, allowing new U.S. tariffs of 50% to take effect on approximately $20 billion in Canadian goods. The affected exports account for roughly 5.5% of Canada’s shipments to the United States and include products ranging from cement to hockey sticks.
Carney characterized the U.S. measures as an attack requiring a Canadian response.
“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney said.
The Canadian prime minister said Saturday that Ottawa had ultimately rejected conditions proposed by Washington because they would have placed Canada at an economic disadvantage and undermined the value of any agreement.
“In recent days, the United States proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair and undermined the net benefits for Canada, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” Carney said in Ottawa.
“We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer offered a different account of the American proposal. Greer told The New York Times that Washington had offered to lower tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles while eliminating a newly imposed tariff on Canadian lumber.
Those concessions would have provided Canada “the most preferential treatment of any trading partner,” Greer said, according to the Times.
Greer separately told Fox News that the administration was “moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation.”
No additional negotiations with Canadian officials were planned, he said.
A senior U.S. official described the Washington talks as candid but not acrimonious despite the failure to reach an agreement.
Canada had entered the negotiations seeking relief from U.S. tariffs affecting steel, aluminum and automobiles. The measures have placed significant pressure on the Canadian economy, contributed to job losses and further strained a trade relationship that for decades had been among the closest in the world.
The White House has accused Canada of “discriminatory treatment” of American alcohol, automobiles and dairy products as it justified the U.S. duties.
Those tariffs were initially scheduled to begin Wednesday. Trump subsequently granted Canada a three-day reprieve after citing progress in the negotiations, but the extension failed to produce a final agreement.
Carney said the negotiations deteriorated in part because U.S. officials introduced additional conditions late in the process, including restrictions affecting Canada’s ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries.
He also said U.S. negotiators made unacceptable “threats” involving the French language and “Quebec culture,” referring to the predominantly French-speaking Canadian province.
The worsening trade dispute drew criticism from Democratic officials in U.S. states with close commercial ties to Canada, including Minnesota, New York and Washington. Those officials argued that the tariffs would increase expenses for American consumers and companies.
“Needlessly picking fights with our allies and raising prices here at home. That’s Trump’s economic policy in a nutshell,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote on X.
The latest dispute comes ahead of another major trade negotiation between the countries. Washington and Ottawa must still address revisions to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the North American free trade pact known as USMCA, after Trump declined to renew the agreement in its existing form.
Relations have also been strained by Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
Carney has said the relationship between the countries has fundamentally changed and has argued that Canada needs to reduce its economic dependence on the United States. Approximately 70% of Canadian exports currently go to the U.S. market.
“We’ve been under no illusions. We recognized from the start that America has changed,” Carney said Saturday. “We recognize that sometimes, its signature was written in pencil.”
Carney spoke with Canadian provincial leaders as his government prepared its response to the new U.S. tariffs.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Canadians to remain united while sharply criticizing Trump’s handling of the negotiations.
Trump “can’t be trusted, simple as that,” Ford told reporters.
“President Trump is the type of person who would steal your lunch money.”
The trade confrontation has also generated concern among major U.S. corporations. The Business Roundtable, which represents approximately 200 chief executives of leading American companies, said the new tariffs “risk raising costs for American businesses and families.”
The organization urged Washington and Ottawa to return to negotiations as both governments prepare additional trade measures and the countries face the unresolved task of renegotiating their broader North American trade relationship.
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