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Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on Canada if the country signs a trade deal with China, just days after Mark Carney suggested the US was “tearing apart” the world order.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president accused the Canadian prime minister of trying to turn Canada into a “drop-off port” for Chinese goods. Trump threatened to revive a trade war after months of relaxation.
Canada and China agreed to remove trade barriers on electric vehicles and canola after Carney met Xi Jinping in Beijing last week during a visit aimed in part at helping Ottawa diversify its trade ties.
Trump initially encouraged Carney to improve economic ties with China, saying, “If you can make a deal with China, you should do it.” On Saturday, however, he struck a new tone in his post on Truth Social.
“If Governor Carney thinks he wants to turn Canada into a shipping port for China to send goods and products to the United States, he is sorely mistaken,” Trump wrote, using a title he uses to goad Canadian leaders.
“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with 100 percent tariffs on all Canadian goods and products.”
In response, Dominic LeBlanc, the Canadian minister responsible for Canada-US trade, said on X that “there is no question of a free trade agreement with China.”
“What was achieved was a resolution of several important tariff issues,” he wrote. “Canada and the U.S. have built a remarkable partnership across our economy and security – and we will remain focused on ensuring the future of that relationship benefits workers and businesses on both sides of our border.”
Trump’s threats follow a tumultuous week in which he warned he would impose high tariffs on European countries over Greenland before withdrawing.
That reversal followed a pattern that has played out throughout the first year of his presidency, in which he threatens punitive tariffs — often when financial markets are closed — before offering significant waivers or suspensions or withdrawing completely.
Early in his term, he warned that this would impose large tariffs on Canada and Mexico before offering waivers that would allow most trade to avoid the tariffs.
The new threat comes four months after Trump met Xi in South Korea and negotiated a truce in the US-China trade war. He is expected to visit China in April and hopes to reach a new trade deal with the Chinese leader.
It also follows the tensions between Trump and Carney in Davos. The Canadian leader won praise for a speech in which he argued that the rules-based international order was undergoing a “rupture.” Carney did not mention Trump by name, but the speech was widely seen as a rebuke of the US president’s erratic behavior, including the attempt to buy Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
Trump hit back at the World Economic Forum, saying: “Canada is alive because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
In a break with the US, which has effectively blocked imports of Chinese electric vehicles using tariffs, Canada agreed to accept imports of 49,000 Chinese electric cars at a 6.1 percent tariff, a drop of 100 percent.
The decision could inflate trade negotiations between the US and Canada as part of their review of the 2020 USMCA trade deal, which includes Mexico. The US is concerned that Chinese companies are using Mexico as a base to export to the US, securing lower tariffs.
Carney, the first Canadian prime minister to visit Beijing in nearly a decade, is turning to the world’s second-largest economy as part of an effort to double exports to non-U.S. partners over the next decade.
Other U.S. officials criticized Canada at Davos. Commerce Minister Howard Lutnick said Canada should not get involved in China, while Finance Minister Scott Bessent brought up Alberta’s referendum to break away from Canada.
“Albertans are very independent people,” Bessent said. “There are rumors that there may be a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not,” he said. “People want sovereignty. They want what the US has.”
“There are lines that are being crossed here,” said Goldy Hyder, president of the Business Council of Canada. “We need our leaders to de-escalate this situation.”
