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26-01-2026
MONTREAL: United States President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff against Canada if Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney moves ahead with an announced trade deal with China.
In a statement shared on Truth Social on Saturday morning, Trump said Carney is “sorely mistaken” if he thinks Canada can become a “‘Drop off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States”.
“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 wrote in the post, which referred to Carney as “governor” instead of prime minister.
Carney’s office did not immediately respond to media’s request for comment on Trump’s remarks.
The threat comes as tensions mounted between Canada and the US this week after Carney delivered an address at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that was widely seen as a rebuke of the Trump administration’s policies.
“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said in the speech, urging the world’s “middle powers” to deepen cooperation in the face of coercion and threats.
The prime minister’s remarks drew the ire of Trump, who responded by saying that “Canada lives because of the United States”. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements,” he said in Davos.
Trump also revoked an invitation for Carney to join his so-called “Board of Peace” this week.
The US president has been threatening to impose steep levies on Canadian goods since before he formally came into office in January 2025, while he has repeatedly said he wants Canada to become the US’s “51st state”.
That has plunged ties between the North American neighbors to historic lows, and pushed Carney in recent months to seek out new economic partnerships, including with China, the European Union and Qatar.
“This is all part of Carney’s goal to lessen (Canada’s) reliance on the United States,” Asa McKercher, a professor at St Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia specialized in Canada-US relations, told media after the Davos speech.
“He’s a banker, so any sort of ‘diversified portfolio’ lessens our risk to certain shocks. That’s the way a banker would probably see it,” McKercher said.
“(Carney) senses the US is a risky trade and security partner, which not a bad assessment is given that Donald Trump is threatening a trade war against America’s closest allies.”
Last week, the Canadian government announced a “new strategic partnership” with China after Carney travelled to the country for talks with Chinese leaders.
The deal would see Beijing lower tariffs on canola and other agriproducts from Canada in exchange for Ottawa allowing as many as 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market.
“At its best, the Canada-China relationship has created massive opportunities for both our peoples,” Carney said in a statement after the announcement.
Meanwhile, in a more divided and uncertain world, Canada is building a stronger, more independent, and more resilient economy. To that end, Canada’s new government is working with urgency and determination to diversify our trade partnerships and catalyze massive new levels of investment. As the world’s second-largest economy, China presents enormous opportunities for Canada in this mission.
To forge a new Canada-China partnership, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, visited Beijing, the People’s Republic of China, this week. This marked the first visit to China by a Canadian Prime Minister since 2017. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
