{"id":179649,"date":"2026-08-23T13:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T13:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179649\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T13:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T13:21:14","slug":"trump-revives-annexation-comments-as-governors-say-tariffs-on-canada-will-harm-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179649\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump revives annexation comments as governors say tariffs on Canada will harm Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 in France in June.Christopher Katsarov\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump is reviving his annexationist rhetoric after Canada walked away from a punishing prospective trade deal. <\/p>\n

In his first comments since talks collapsed late Friday, triggering an escalation in Mr. Trump\u2019s continental trade war, the President posted to Truth Social shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!! They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!\u201d Mr. Trump wrote.<\/p>\n

He did not specify what he was referring to on agriculture, but access for U.S. dairy products to the Canadian market under the supply management system has been a major trade issue for him.<\/p>\n

Since returning to office last year, Mr. Trump has periodically called for Canada to become the U.S.\u2019s \u201c51st state,\u201d and once said he would use \u201ceconomic force\u201d to get Canadians to join the U.S.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney said this weekend that the deal fell apart because the U.S. wanted to restrict Canada\u2019s ability to make trade deals<\/a> with other countries and attempted to make a last-minute change to the agreement that would have been exceptionally punitive for Canadian exports of trucks.<\/p>\n

The two sides reached a tentative agreement last Tuesday. On Friday evening, Mr. Trump told reporters he had a \u201cgood relationship\u201d with Mr. Carney and that the deal was moving towards completion. \u201cCanada is moving along and we should be able to have a deal with Canada,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Just hours later, however, Mr. Carney announced that he was breaking off talks and recalling Canada\u2019s negotiating team. Mr. Trump\u2019s latest round of tariffs of 50 per cent on US$20-billion of Canadian exports came into effect on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Mr. Carney has said that Canada will institute \u201cdollar-for-dollar\u201d counter-tariffs starting Sept. 8. The Trump administration has said that, if Canada does that, Mr. Trump will consider options for further escalating the trade war.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,\u201d the Prime Minister said on Saturday. \u201cThat\u2019s fine. We\u2019ve got the reserves. We\u2019ve got resilience. We\u2019ve got the plan. We\u2019ve got the focus. We\u2019ll respond \u2013 we are going to focus on what we can control. We are going to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the prospective deal, Canada was set to accept U.S. tariffs and concede on several other trade demands in exchange for Mr. Trump lowering his existing tariffs and not imposing the new ones. But Mr. Carney said that, after the initial deal was agreed to, the U.S. changed its terms.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has said that the deal fell apart because Canada asked for more tariff relief on one or two specific sectors than the U.S. was willing to give. <\/p>\n

Since last year, Mr. Trump has imposed tariffs of 50 per cent on Canadian steel and aluminum, 25 per cent on autos, and between 10 and 25 per cent on various forest products, among other levies. <\/p>\n

Across the U.S., politicians \u2013 mostly Democrats, though with at least one major Republican voice \u2013 lined up to tie Mr. Trump\u2019s tariffs to the stubbornly high consumer prices roiling Americans. Tariffs are paid by importers in the country imposing the levies and often passed onto consumers, making imported goods more expensive.<\/p>\n

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said \u201congoing, chaotic tariff wars with Canada\u201d are threatening Michigan\u2019s auto industry by forcing companies to cut staff or jack up prices.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese tariffs act as a tax hike on Michigan families and businesses by raising prices at the grocery store and the gas pump,\u201d she wrote on X. \u201cCompanies \u2013 especially our auto manufacturers \u2013 face the difficult decision of laying off workers or passing costs onto their customers, who are already suffering because of the GOP\u2019s gamesmanship. This must end. Michiganders literally cannot afford to keep paying these Republican tariff taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michigan is a key swing state with both an open gubernatorial race and a highly competitive senate election this fall. Its economy is heavily integrated with Canada\u2019s, particularly in the auto industry.<\/p>\n

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger noted that Canada is her state\u2019s top destination for exports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen time and time again how President Trump\u2019s careless, chaotic tariff policies have direct consequences for Virginians,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThey raise prices and destabilize relationships that our producers and businesses rely on. These damaging tariffs will cause further harm to Virginians in a matter of days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican in a tough re-election battle, wrote that Maine imports US$2-billion from Canada, not counting petroleum, and the tariffs will push prices higher.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Administration proceeds with these tariffs, they will increase costs for Maine families, as most businesses will have no choice but to pass on the tariffs to their customers through higher prices,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

California Governor Gavin Newsom, a likely Democratic presidential contender in 2028 who often trolls Mr. Trump on social media, was typically blunt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur closest ally. Our critical trading partner. And Trump is hitting Canada with 50% tariffs. What the actual fuck are we doing?\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":["post-179649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}