US President Donald Trump has warned he could impose a 100% tariff on Canadian imports if Ottawa moves forward with a trade agreement 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.,” Trump said on Truth Social.
Trump did not specify which agreement he was referencing in the post. However, last week Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a “strategic partnership” with China and confirmed both sides had agreed to cut certain tariffs.
At the time, Trump described the development as “a good thing”. Relations between Washington and Ottawa have since cooled, following comments by Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos that the US-led global order had been fractured.
Carney also called on other “middle powers” to unite against economic pressure from “greater powers”, though he did not refer to Trump directly.
Trump addressed the remarks the following day in a speech of his own, stating: “Canada lives because of the United States.”
The US president later rescinded an invitation for Canada to participate in his newly announced Board of Peace.
In a further post on Saturday, Trump said that 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”.
Canada’s US trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, said in a statement: “There is no pursuit of a free trade deal with China.”
“What was achieved was resolution on several important tariff issues.”
LeBlanc added that the government’s priority was strengthening Canada’s economy and expanding trade relationships “throughout the world”.
Canada has been working to reduce its reliance on the US — its largest trading partner — amid uncertainty created by Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies.
Under an agreement announced last week between Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping, China will reduce tariffs on Canadian canola oil from 85% to 15% by March, while Canada will apply a 6.1% most-favoured-nation tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, down from 100%.
The agreement was widely viewed as a breakthrough following years of tense relations and retaliatory tariffs, and may open the door to increased Chinese investment in Canada.
Carney said the progress achieved with Beijing positions Canada “well for the new world order”.
