Trump Threatens 100% Tariff on Canada Over Potential China Trade Deal
United States President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning to Canada, threatening to impose a 100 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods entering America if Prime Minister Mark Carney finalises a trade agreement with China.
The threat, delivered on Saturday via Trump’s Truth Social platform, marks the latest escalation in deteriorating relations between the two North American neighbours since Trump returned to the White House a year ago.
Trump’s warning came in response to Carney’s visit to Beijing last week, during which the Canadian leader announced what he described as a “new strategic partnership” with China. The visit resulted in a “preliminary but landmark trade agreement” aimed at reducing tariffs between Canada and China, a development that has evidently alarmed the American president.
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“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 USA,” Trump declared in his social media post.
The US president suggested that any such arrangement would turn Canada into what he termed a “Drop Off Port” for Chinese goods destined for American markets, a scenario he said would not be tolerated.
“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,” Trump wrote, adding a dire prediction for Canada’s future relationship with Beijing.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” he stated.
The escalating tensions between the two leaders have intensified in recent days, beginning with Carney’s address on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. During that speech, the Canadian prime minister received a standing ovation for what observers described as a frank assessment of a “rupture” in the US-led global order, a comment widely interpreted as a reference to Trump’s disruptive approach to international affairs, though the American president was not mentioned by name.
Trump responded swiftly to Carney’s Davos remarks, delivering a counter-speech the following day and subsequently withdrawing an invitation for the Canadian leader to join his “Board of Peace,” a self-styled body Trump has established for resolving global conflicts. Originally conceived to oversee the situation in postwar Gaza, the body now appears to have a far wider scope, raising concerns among international observers that Trump intends to create a rival mechanism to the United Nations.
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Carney addressed the mounting friction in a national address on Thursday, striking a defiant but measured tone. “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian,” he said, while acknowledging the “remarkable partnership between the two nations.”
The trade tensions between Washington and Ottawa occur against a backdrop of significant economic interdependence. Canada is heavily reliant on trade with the United States, which serves as the destination for more than three-quarters of Canadian exports. Key Canadian sectors including automotive manufacturing, aluminum production, and steel have been severely affected by Trump’s global sectoral tariffs, though the impact has been somewhat cushioned by the president’s general adherence to the existing North American free trade agreement.
Negotiations to revise that trade deal are scheduled to begin this year, and Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States does not need access to any Canadian products, a position that, if translated into policy, would have sweeping and potentially devastating consequences for Canada’s economy.