{"id":179747,"date":"2026-08-23T15:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179747\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T15:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:23:19","slug":"carney-warned-about-economic-coercion-now-trump-is-testing-the-canadian-prime-minister-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179747\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney warned about economic coercion. Now Trump is testing the Canadian prime minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO, ONT \u2013 Mark Carney drew international attention as Canada\u2019s prime minister by warning that middle powers<\/a> must resist economic coercion<\/a> by more powerful countries. Now President Donald Trump<\/a> is putting that warning to the test with sweeping new tariffs<\/a> that could show how much economic pain Canada can absorb.<\/p>\n

Tensions escalated<\/a> late Friday when Canada walked away from negotiations<\/a> after Carney concluded the United States was demanding too much in exchange for tariff relief. The U.S. imposed 50% duties Saturday on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, and Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning Sept. 8.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to hit back,\u201d Carney said.<\/p>\n

Carney is doing what many other American allies have so far avoided: risking economic pain rather than yielding to tariff pressure.<\/p>\n

For Carney, the showdown is the clearest test yet of his argument that middle powers<\/a> must stand up to economic pressure from great powers such as the United States and China, even when it comes at a cost. Canada\u2019s response could show how countries navigate a world in which long-standing alliances offer less protection and economic ties themselves become sources of leverage.<\/p>\n

It could also shape how Carney is viewed at home and abroad, and how other U.S. allies respond to the Republican president.<\/p>\n

The trade dispute also has become a test of sovereignty. <\/p>\n

Carney said Washington introduced language in the final hours of negotiations that would have restricted Canada\u2019s ability to make trade deals with other countries. He said that demand was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and \u201ca question of sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

British Columbia Premier David Eby said accepting such a condition would have reduced Canada \u201cto the economic equivalent of the 51st state\u201d \u2014 a status Trump has mused about often<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Canada becomes a test case for the world Carney warned about<\/p>\n

Carney\u2019s message resonated in January when he addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as Europe braced for Trump\u2019s threats over Greenland<\/a> and new tariffs.<\/p>\n

Carney said the international order was undergoing \u201ca rupture, not a transition.\u201d He argued that sovereignty would depend increasingly on a country\u2019s ability to \u201cwithstand pressure\u201d and warned that middle powers negotiating alone with great powers do so from weakness.<\/p>\n

Trump responded a day later by stressing Canada\u2019s dependence on the United States. \u201c Canada lives because of the United States<\/a>,\u201d he said. \u201cRemember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president has repeatedly talked about making Canada the 51st U.S. state and dismissed the allies’ border as artificial. On Sunday, Trump returned to that theme, writing on Truth Social that \u201cCanada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!\u201d and accusing Canada of charging U.S. farmers \u201cmassive amounts\u201d of tariffs for years. \u201cNo more!!!\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Seven months since Davos, Canada has become a test case for the world Carney described.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur government understood, before many, that America would transform all its commercial relationships,\u201d Carney said Saturday. He accused Washington of using \u201ceconomic integration as a weapon\u201d and said its \u201csignature was written in pencil.\u201d<\/p>\n

The price of resistance and will Canada show the way?<\/p>\n

Historian Robert Bothwell said Canada is uniquely vulnerable to U.S. pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo country is more exposed than Canada,\u201d Bothwell said. \u201cOther countries have to fear American misbehavior, but none as much as Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bothwell said success ultimately means Canada retaining its independence \u201cin the face of Trump\u2019s desire to subordinate it and absorb it.\u201d He said Carney “sees that very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Canada\u2019s dependence on the U.S. market makes that difficult. <\/p>\n

Nearly three-quarters of Canadian exports go to the United States, whose economy is roughly 10 times larger. Canada can sign new trade agreements, but replacing customers and supply chains built around the enormous U.S. market over decades is considerably harder.<\/p>\n

Carney acknowledged retaliation would \u201craise costs and reduce choice for Canadians.\u201d<\/p>\n

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer rejected Canada\u2019s account of the breakdown in talks, saying Ottawa introduced new demands and backed away from commitments even after Washington offered to reduce tariffs on steel, autos, lumber and other goods.<\/p>\n

He said the United States was moving ahead with additional measures in response to Canada\u2019s retaliation, raising the prospect of further escalation. <\/p>\n

The European Union prepared retaliatory tariffs against the United States last year but repeatedly suspended them while negotiating with Washington. <\/p>\n

Nelson Wiseman, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, said Canada is providing the biggest test yet of whether Carney\u2019s strategy can work and whether resistance by one middle power could change the calculations of others.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill there be a domino effect? We\u2019ll see,\u201d Wiseman said.<\/p>\n

Carney tries to hold the line as anger grows among Canadians toward Trump<\/p>\n

Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group, said Americans underestimate how angry Canadians are with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cTaking a hard line in response to U.S. policy perceived as predatory \u2014 even with major economic cost to Canada \u2014 is popular among most Canadians,\u201d he said in a social media post.<\/p>\n

Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said Canadians should be prepared for a prolonged confrontation and that Trump could emerge weaker after the U.S. midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got two more years left in office. We should be prepared to duke it out for two years, and then hopefully, sanity will return,\u201d Kinew said.<\/p>\n

Carney has framed the confrontation as a test of whether Canada can preserve its independence under U.S. pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us,\u201d Carney said Saturday. \u201cAnd I promised: \u2018That will never, ever happen.\u2019 We are keeping that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO, ONT \u2013 Mark Carney drew international attention as Canada\u2019s prime minister by warning that middle powers must…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[525,8288,162,51836,111,2942,113,33103,5996,218],"class_list":["post-179747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-business","tag-david-eby","tag-donald-trump","tag-ian-bremmer","tag-mark-carney","tag-nelson-wiseman","tag-politics","tag-robert-bothwell","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179747","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=179747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}