President Trump on Saturday threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canada over that nation’s trade deal with China, even though he had previously called the agreement “a good thing.”
In a social media post, Trump said of Canadian Prime Minster Mark Carney that if he “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 has negotiated a deal to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, in return for lower import taxes on Canadian farm products.
But the Trump administration claims that the agreement may run afoul the United States-Mexico- Canada free trade agreement (USMCA) that is scheduled to be renegotiated this summer.
On Sunday, Carney said his country was rectifying some issues that had developed over the past several years, and that Canada was “going back to the future” on electric vehicle, agricultural and other sectors of the economy.
He reiterated Canada’s commitment to the USMCA which includes not pursuing free trade agreements with non-market economies.
But US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday criticized Carney as doing an “about face.”
“The Canadians a few months ago joined the US in putting high steel tariffs on China because the Chinese are dumping,” Bessent said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “The Europeans also have done the same thing. And it looks like that Prime Minister Carney may have done some kind of about-face.”
Bessent also took aim at Carney over remarks the Canadian prime minister made at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, when he called for unity against aggressive superpowers, without singling out any country by name.
“I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here, other than trying to virtue-signal to his globalist friends at Davos,” Bessent said on Sunday.
Last week, Trump called off planned tariffs on European nations over his pursuit of Greenland. Trump cited the “framework of a future deal” reached with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
NATO Chief Mark Rutte said a deal with Trump was secured after discussing the security of the Arctic region, prompting Trump to immediately scrap his tariff threats against European allies. But Denmark’s prime minister said on Thursday that her country will not negotiate on its sovereignty. Trump has said the framework deal would give the US “total access” to Greenland, though he has provided few details.
Just days earlier, Trump had said the US would implement 10% tariffs on eight European countries that he says are getting in the way of a US purchase of Greenland. The US-EU trade deal now appears back on track after the bloc scrapped a potential retaliatory trade package that its members had discussed in the wake of Trump’s threats..