President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on goods sold from Canada if the country proceeds and strikes a trade deal with China.
"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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“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,” the president added, alluding to the claim that China would attempt to bypass paying U.S. tariffs through its partnership with Canada.
Earlier in January, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that Canada and China forged a preliminary agreement to slash tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles by 100% in exchange for lower import taxes on Canadian agricultural products.
Dominic Leblanc, Canadian minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said in a statement that "there is no pursuit of a free trade agreement with China," clarifying that both nations had resolved “several important trade issues,” while also emphasizing Canada's "remarkable partnership" with the United States.
"The new Government of Canada is strengthening the Canadian economy through a plan that consolidates our national strength and bolsters our trade partnerships around the world," Leblanc added.
“We have no intention of doing that with China or any other nonmarket economy,” Prime Minister Carney clarified, sharing similar words to Leblanc. “What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years.”
The threat is the second altercation between President Trump and Prime Minister Carney. President Trump previously commented that “Canada lives because of the United States,” when he spoke about the impact of NATO’s alliance amid his push to acquire Greenland while in Davos, Switzerland.
“Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian,” Carney fired back.
