US President Donald Trump has said Canada wants “the benefits of being a country, without being one” after trade talks between the two countries broke down late on Friday.
In his first comments since negotiations broke down, triggering new 50% U.S. tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, Trump also said American farmers had been burdened with “huge amounts of tariffs” for years.
This comes after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the new tariffs a “miscalculation” designed to “hurt and divide us.”
Carney confirmed he would match Trump’s tariffs “dollar for dollar” starting Sept. 8, including taxes on steel, dairy products, appliances and electronics. The U.S. and Canada are now in a “trade war,” he said.
“They asked for too much and offered too little. You are at war when you are attacked. We are being attacked,” Carney said on Saturday, according to the Telegraph.
Trump’s latest comments echo his repeated references to making Canada America’s “51st state” since returning to office, causing frustration among its leaders and residents.
The failure of trade talks upended a deeply integrated trading relationship, with no clear path to resolution.
“We cannot accept what they have offered and we will not give what they have asked for,” Carney said.
Both countries were optimistic about an agreement earlier in the week, but talks collapsed after both sides accused each other of making last-minute changes.
The new 50% U.S. tariffs will apply to a wide range of Canadian goods, in addition to existing U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and lumber.
They are limited in scope, covering about $20 billion (C$28 billion) of Canadian imports, or about 5% of the total, including wine, dairy products, cement, clothing and hockey equipment.
The prime minister said Canada was retaliating “reluctantly” to protect its interests. Details of the countermeasures will be released in the coming days, he said.
Leaders of other federal parties in Canada, including the Conservative opposition, expressed support for the prime minister, as did the leaders of several Canadian provinces.
Tariffs – a tax imposed on imports from other countries – have been a key component of Trump’s trade policy, with the US president arguing that they will boost American manufacturing and create jobs at home.
However, critics say the tariffs have raised prices for American consumers and disrupted and damaged the global economy.
Carney’s speech on Saturday was his first to Canadians since he announced late Friday night that a deal would not be reached, accusing the Americans of making “last-minute changes” that were “unfair” and “uneconomical.”
Meanwhile, US negotiators accused Canada of making “new demands and retreats” from previously agreed-upon terms.
On Saturday, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Fox News that there were no plans to resume talks.
He added that the US was prepared to reduce some of its tariffs on Canada as part of the ill-fated deal.
However, Carney said the US presented “unacceptable” conditions that were too restrictive, including curbing Canada’s ability to reach new trade deals with other countries.
He also rejected the claim that Canada had made last-minute demands: “We clarified what was being offered and were consistently disappointed by the responses.”
Doug Ford, the leader of Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, backed Carney and said Trump “cannot be trusted.”
British Columbia Premier David Eby said the U.S. demand for restrictions on Canada’s ability to have other trade deals “would reduce us to the economic equivalent of the 51st state.”
“This was never acceptable to Canadians,” Eby said.
Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre also appeared to back Carney, calling the latest US tariffs “unjustified.”
Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette warned that jobs are likely to be lost as a result of the new U.S. tariffs.
“Behind these figures are real people,” she said, pledging to introduce measures to support affected sectors. /Telegraph/