US President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 100% tariff on Canadian goods if Ottawa goes ahead with its trade deal with China.
Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Beijing last week and struck a deal under which Canada will ease tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles that it imposed in tandem with the US in 2024. In exchange, China will lower retaliatory tariffs on key Canadian agricultural products.
If the deal wasn’t enough, Carney’s rousing speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos where he vowed to diversify Canada’s economic partners and reduce dependence on its southern neighbour rattled Trump.
“If Governor 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,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social, using the nickname he placed on Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life. 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.,” the president added.
Relations between Washington and Ottawa soured after Trump’s returned to the White House last year. The US president has floated the idea of making Canada the 51st US state, besides his threats to annex the Danish territory of Greenland just east of the country.
Amid sustained pressure from the US, Canada has set an ambitious goal to increase exports to China by 50% by 2030 and Carney has pledged to significantly increase non-US trade in the next ten years. He is reportedly planning a visit to India in the coming months.
In Davos, the PM sharply criticised the Trump policy of employing coercive measures against allies and extolled middle powers to bind closer and resist great power hegemony. His speech drew a rare standing ovation at the gathering and irked Trump, who not only belittled Canada in his address a day later but also withdrew his Board of Peace invitation to Carney.
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