President Donald Trump accused Canada of damaging its economy and social stability through high immigration levels, escalating his criticism of the country as Washington and Ottawa remain locked in a widening trade dispute.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Canada on Wednesday, arguing that years of high immigration have created economic and social problems that will become increasingly difficult for the country to manage as tensions between Washington and Ottawa continue over trade.
In a Truth Social post, Trump directly connected immigration with Canada’s economic difficulties and criticized the country’s Liberal government.
“Canada is destroying itself by allowing millions and millions of people into the Country, essentially unchecked and unvetted, and who are causing problems that will soon be too big to handle,” Trump wrote. “It is a Liberal takeover that will end very badly. Already showing up in their numbers. Big unemployment. ‘Oh Canada![‘]“
Trump’s description represents his assessment of Canadian immigration policy. Canadian government data show the country significantly increased immigration earlier in the decade but has since begun reducing planned arrivals, particularly among temporary residents.
Under Canada’s current 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, the federal government has set a target of 385,000 new temporary resident arrivals for 2026, declining to 370,000 in both 2027 and 2028. Permanent resident admissions are targeted at 380,000 annually during the three-year period. Ottawa has also committed to reducing non-permanent residents to less than 5% of the population by the end of 2027.
Canadian officials say the share of non-permanent residents has already declined from a peak of 7.6% of the population to 6.5%, while arrivals of international students and temporary workers fell 53% in 2025 compared with 2024. The government describes the reductions as an effort to bring immigration back to levels that better match housing, health care, labor-market and infrastructure capacity.
Trump also pointed to unemployment as evidence for his criticism. Statistics Canada reported that the national unemployment rate was 6.4% in August, unchanged from July after declining for three consecutive months. Employment fell by 42,000 during August but remained 217,000 higher than a year earlier.
The latest immigration comments come during a significant deterioration in U.S.-Canadian economic relations.
Negotiations between the two countries approached an agreement earlier this year before collapsing, after which the dispute widened into retaliatory tariffs and additional U.S. trade restrictions. Washington announced measures this month affecting Canadian dairy products, alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and other goods following Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products.
The economic confrontation has also pushed Canada to accelerate efforts to diversify trade beyond the United States. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has pursued deeper commercial relationships with Europe and Asia while maintaining that the United States remains Canada’s largest trading partner.
Trump has used increasingly pointed rhetoric toward Canada during the dispute.
On Aug. 27, he signed Executive Order 14422 directing the U.S. government to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America” in federal maps, documents and communications. The order instructed the Interior Department and Board on Geographic Names to update U.S. federal geographic records accordingly.
The administration has since imposed additional trade measures. A September proclamation announced that specified Canadian products would be excluded from importation into the United States beginning Sept. 29, while other Canadian goods would remain subject to additional tariffs.
Trump’s Wednesday comments therefore add immigration to an increasingly broad dispute between the neighboring countries that already encompasses tariffs, automobiles, agriculture and other trade issues.
While Trump argued that Canada’s immigration policies are contributing to unemployment and broader instability, Ottawa has already moved to reduce temporary immigration and stabilize permanent admissions after several years of rapid population growth. The disagreement now adds another political issue to an already strained U.S.-Canada relationship.
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