U.S. President Donald Trump has heightened trade tensions with Canada, vowing 100 per cent tariffs on its exports to America if Ottawa pursues closer economic ties with China.
In a Truth Social post, Trump stated, “If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.” He added that if Prime Minister Mark Carney “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken.”
This follows Carney’s Beijing visit, where he forged a strategic partnership with President Xi Jinping on clean energy, agriculture, and technology, aiming to unlock nearly £2.4 billion in Canadian exports by slashing barriers like canola tariffs from 85 per cent to 15 per cent by March.
Strains grew after Carney’s Davos speech lamenting a fractured U.S.-led world order and urging middle powers to resist coercion. Trump retorted, “Canada lives because of the United States,” and withdrew Canada’s invite to his new Board of Peace.
Canada’s U.S. trade minister Dominic LeBlanc clarified there is “no pursuit of a free trade deal with China.”
“What was achieved was resolution on several important tariff issues,” he said, prioritising a stronger economy and global partnerships.
With China as its second-largest partner after the U.S., Canada diversifies amid Trump’s tariff volatility, eyeing agri-food growth while Carney hails the pact as fitting Canada “well for the new world order.”