Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France. File photo
| Photo Credit: AP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France. File photo
| Photo Credit: AP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on the United States on Saturday (August 22, 2026), after walking away from a “bad deal” on trade in a deepening rift between the longtime allies.

Negotiations between the neighbouring countries broke down on Friday (August 21, 2026) in Washington, putting into force new 50% U.S. tariffs impacting about $20 billion worth of goods, or 5.5% of Canadian exports to the United States.

Impacted products range from hockey sticks to cement.

“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Mr. Carney said.

U.S. President Donald Trump had said Washington “should be able to have a deal with Canada,” citing his “good relationship” with Mr. Carney.

But on Saturday (August 22, 2026), Canada’s Prime Minister said Mr. Trump set conditions that were ultimately unacceptable even though earlier talks had been positive.

“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,” Mr. Carney said in Ottawa.

“We cannot accept what they’ve offered, and we will not give what they’ve asked.”

New Canadian tariffs will notably target the U.S. steel and dairy industries and take effect on September 8. More details would come next week, Mr. Carney said.

A senior U.S. official characterised this week’s talks in Washington as candid and not acrimonious.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News on Saturday (August 22, 2026) that Washington was “moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation.” He also said no new talks were planned with Canadian negotiators.

‘Significant pressure’

Canada has been seeking relief from Mr. Trump’s tariffs on autos, steel and aluminium, which have battered the country’s economy, forced job losses and strained what was once an iron-clad trade relationship.

The White House had alleged “discriminatory treatment” by Canada against U.S. alcohol, automobile and dairy products in introducing the duties.

They were originally set to take effect Wednesday (August 26, 2026), before Mr. Trump issued a three-day reprieve citing progress in talks.

Mr. Carney said one reason the deal collapsed was U.S. negotiators at the 11th hour introducing restrictions on Canadian trade deals with other countries.

U.S. negotiators also made unacceptable “threats” to the French language and “Quebec culture,” he said, referring to the French-speaking province in eastern Canada.

The escalating trade war was met with anger by Democratic lawmakers and governors from border states including Minnesota, New York and Washington, blaming Trump for triggering chaos that will raise costs on U.S. businesses and families.

“Needlessly picking fights with our allies and raising prices here at home. That’s Trump’s economic policy in a nutshell,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul posted on X.

Beyond the latest tariffs, the U.S. and Canada still have to agree on revisions to the North American free trade agreement, USMCA, which Trump declined to renew in its current form.

Mr. Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st U.S. state have also antagonized Canadians.

Lunch money

Mr. Carney has repeatedly said relations with the U.S. have been forever altered, and that Canada must reduce reliance on its southern neighbor, which currently accounts for roughly 70% of Canadian exports.

“We’ve been under no illusions. We recognised from the start that America has changed,” Mr. Carney said Saturday (August 22, 2026). “We recognize that sometimes, its signature was written in pencil.”

Mr. Carney spoke with provincial leaders to outline next steps. One of them, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, said Canadians must remain united.

Mr. Trump “can’t be trusted, simple as that,” Mr. Ford told reporters. “President Trump is the type of person who would steal your lunch money.”

The Business Roundtable, a group of 200 chief executives of leading U.S. corporations, warned the new tariffs “risk raising costs for American businesses and families,” and urged both governments to resume negotiations.

Published – August 23, 2026 03:41 am IST

President Donald Trump speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. File.
| Photo Credit: AP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, left, meets with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, during the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France on June 16, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, meets with Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi in his office in Ottawa, on May 29, 2026. Photo: The Canadian Press via AP

Cambridge Bay, Nunavut

Since U.S. President Donald Trump’s barrage of threats to seize Greenland, authorities on the frozen island have ​been seeking help from a northern ally: Canada.

A reserve unit of the Canadian Armed forces called the Rangers has long maintained a year-round presence in mostly inaccessible Arctic communities. For three years, authorities ‌in Greenland and Denmark have consulted with Canadian officials on how to set up their own version of the Rangers — conversations that grew more urgent ​with Mr. Trump’s threats and growing fears of Russian hostility in the Arctic.

“The rhetoric coming out of the White House has sped up efforts to ⁠rebuff the idea that Arctic communities need the U.S. to come in and save them,” said Whitney Lackenbauer, an honorary Lieutenant-Colonel Canadian Ranger involved in the talks, who spoke with Reuters during a recent 5,000-kilometer Arctic snowmobile trek by the Rangers.

“The Nordic countries and Canada, we’re increasingly realising we can come together in military and diplomatic ways to send a message that carries moral weight.” As Canada attempts to ‌pivot away from relying on the U.S. to protect its vast Arctic, Prime Minister Mark Carney is strengthening ties and exchanging security tips with the Nordic countries, which he describes as trusted partners.

Canada’s increased defence collaboration with the Nordics is part of Carney’s effort to strengthen alliances between what he calls “middle ‌powers” in a world where the United States is considered a less reliable partner.

The White House said Mr. Trump’s leadership has prompted allies “to recognize the need to ‌meaningfully ⁠contribute to their own defense” and that the Arctic is a critical region for U.S. national security and the economy.

“The administration is participating in diplomatic high-level ⁠technical talks with the governments of Greenland and Denmark to address the United States’ national security interests in Greenland,” a White House spokesperson said in an email.

Alliances are shifting in the Arctic as climate change makes it more accessible. Russia has far more military bases than any other nation there and in recent years China has started to increase its presence in the mineral-rich area, mostly in partnership with Russia. While Mr. Carney says Canada ​will no longer rely on any other nation to protect its own ‌territory, he says the Arctic’s greatest threat is from Russia – and the Nordics have been boosting their own defences since Russia invaded Ukraine.

In March, Canada and the five Nordic countries — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden agreed to deepen their cooperation in military procurement and ramp up defence production to deal with security threats, including cyberattacks. A plan for how Greenland might adapt the Canadian Rangers is expected by the end of this year, according to government policy documents.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told Reuters she meets ‌regularly with Nordic officials to work on collective defence and Arctic security. Canada’s partnership with the United States through NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command, ​remains critical, she said. But Canada is focused on bolstering new alliances. That includes the opening of a Canadian consulate in Nuuk in February and an invitation to her Nordic counterparts to visit Canada’s Arctic this year.

“We have to build something new, and it has to be ⁠a world order that is built on the values that we represent,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Mr. Carney during the Nordic-Canadian summit in Oslo in March. In April, Alexander Stubb became the first Finnish president to visit Canada in a dozen years and signed several agreements on Arctic cooperation.

Mr. Stubb and Mr. Carney took to the ice in Ottawa for a hockey practice, and ‌afterward Mr. Stubb said he and Mr. Carney message each other almost every day. The two national leaders sometimes chat about hockey or baseball, Mr. Stubb told reporters, but “most of the time it’s about NATO or Ukraine or Iran.”

No more ‘Free pass in the Arctic’ for hostile nations

Mr. Lackenbauer, the honorary Canadian Ranger lieutenant-colonel, is also an Arctic expert at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. He said Canada should overhaul its approach to Arctic security just as Nordic countries did after Russian troops marched into Ukraine in 2022.

“The more we can go and help Canada’s allies in northern Europe, the more hostile nations will get the message that they do not get a free pass in the Arctic,” he said. Among the eight countries that share the Arctic, Canada’s investment in defending the territory has consistently been near the bottom, trailing Russia, the U.S., Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, according to the Arctic Business Index, a network of far ‌north research institutions and analysts.

Along with Greenland, Canada has historically spent the least. Last year, Canada hit the NATO target of spending 2% of its GDP on defence, around CA$63 billion, after repeated complaints ​from Mr. Trump. That compared to a low point of just 1% in 2014.

Neil O’Rourke, Director General at Canada’s Coast Guard for Fleet and Maritime Services, said he and a Danish defence colleague realised years ago that if either country had a serious incident in the Arctic, their first phone ⁠call should be to each other.

“Up north, we’re just across the water and it makes much more sense to share resources than to get help from down south,” Mr. O’Rourke said in an ⁠interview. He said Canada is also trying to learn more from Norway about how its maritime services handle emergency towing of vessels.

Rob Huebert, an Arctic expert at the University of Calgary, said working with the U.S. remains critical, noting that the country produces arguably the most advanced military weaponry and that Canada’s military remains ‌highly dependent on the U.S. for protecting its northernmost regions.

“If we are talking about war-fighting capability, that means working with the U.S. military,” he said. Mr. Huebert said Mr. Carney’s March trip to observe a Norwegian-led NATO exercise in Bardufoss is perhaps an indication the country’s approach is changing.

“Until very recently, Canada’s participation in NATO’s Arctic exercises in the Nordics ​has been very token,” he said. “But then all of a sudden because of Mr. Trump, we decide we’d better do something with the Nordics.”

Published – May 16, 2026 05:46 pm IST

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberals now have 174 of the 343 seats in the House of Commons and won’t need support from opposition parties to pass legislation after winning three districts that became vacant after last year’s election. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

People enter an Elections Canada voting location, in Terrebonne, Quebec, on April 13, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP