President Trump on Saturday threatened 100% tariffs on Canadian products in response to Canada’s trade agreement with China, a deal he previously described as “a good thing.”
In a social media post, Trump criticized Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, writing that if 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.”
Canada recently negotiated a bilateral deal with China to lower tariffs on electric vehicles in exchange for reduced import taxes on Canadian agricultural goods.
The Trump administration has raised concerns that the agreement may conflict with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is slated for renegotiation this summer. That agreement prohibits member countries from entering into free trade deals with non-market economies such as China.
On Sunday, Carney said Canada was addressing trade issues that had developed in recent years and reaffirmed the country’s support for the USMCA. He stated that Canada was “going back to the future.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, appearing Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” criticized Canada’s position. “The Canadians a few months ago joined the U.S. in putting high steel tariffs on China because the Chinese are dumping,” Bessent said. “The Europeans also have done the same thing. And it looks like Prime Minister Carney may have done some kind of about-face.”
In a separate development, Trump last week reversed course on proposed tariffs on several European nations tied to his proposal to purchase Greenland. He said the shift came after securing a “framework of a future deal” with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
Rutte confirmed the agreement, citing discussions focused on Arctic security. Trump has said the deal would grant the U.S. “total access” to Greenland, although no further details have been disclosed.
Earlier, Trump had announced plans to impose 10% tariffs on eight European countries, citing obstacles to a potential Greenland purchase. The European Union has since dropped consideration of a retaliatory trade package, and the U.S.-EU trade talks appear to have resumed.
