The usually cordial relationship between Washington and Ottawa has soured considerably in recent weeks, with trade talks derailed and the neighbors now levying multi-billion-dollar tariffs against one another.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s most recent trade war comes with a hefty cost, with some $872.3 billion<\/a> traded between the nations in 2025. After negotiations collapsed this weekend, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. \u201casked for too much and offered too little,\u201d while Trump says Canada is \u201cfoolish\u201d to engage in a trade war.<\/p>\n Wilbur Ross has a unique perspective on the challenges being faced on both sides: He was U.S. Commerce Secretary in Trump\u2019s first term, and led renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada during a similarly tense period.<\/p>\n The current negotiations are all the more difficult because of the fundamental shift in sentiment\u2013and as a result, political will\u2014of Canadians toward their American neighbors, Ross said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Canadians have adopted a very negative attitude toward the U.S. in general, and we can argue, is that justified?\u00a0Is it not? It doesn\u2019t matter. There\u2019s been a real sea change [and] that\u2019s gonna be a complication because\u2014almost independently of whatever proposal the U.S. might make\u2014there\u2019s probably a political advantage to people in Canada who oppose\u00a0it,\u201d Ross told Fortune in an exclusive interview. <\/p>\n Evidence isn\u2019t scarce as to why Canadians have a newfound distaste for the White House. Last week, the Canadian press<\/a> reported a leaked audio of Vice President JD Vance at a private function in which he ridiculed Carney as both \u201csweet\u201d and \u201chilarious.\u201d Vance reportedly said that Carney \u201ccomes in and puffs his chest out and says, \u2018I\u2019m going to, like, out-tough Donald Trump.\u201d\u2018<\/p>\n Trump has also volleyed insults in the direction of the Prime Minister\u2019s office and his people. The president has continually referred to Canada as the \u201c51st state\u201d of the U.S. and recently suggested renaming Lake Ontario<\/a> to Lake America\u2014a tactic he also deployed when negotiating with his southern neighbors in Mexico.<\/p>\n Needles over sovereignty are guaranteed to get a reaction out of Canada, something Trump knows, Ross suggests.<\/p>\n \u201c[Trump] sometimes speaks metaphorically, and I think what was at the core of the 51st state was another way of articulating Canada\u2019s dependence on the U.S.,\u201d Ross suggests.\u00a0\u201cJust mechanically, how would we ever do that? If you put it up for a plebiscite, at least at present, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any chance the Canadian public would vote for it.\u00a0Would you invade them?\u00a0I don\u2019t see it.\u201d <\/p>\n A standoff<\/p>\n The issues that the U.S. and Canada are debating are nothing new, Ross said: Defense spending, dairy levies, and transshipments\u2014whereby imports from places like China bypass U.S. duties by coming through a neighboring nation.<\/p>\n Trump wants new agreements on these issues, Ross said, but he believes the White House won\u2019t go much further out of its way to secure them. The former cabinet secretary believes the deal offered by the U.S. was surprisingly favorable to Canada.<\/p>\n If there were to be further negotiations, Ross added, he believes the impetus would need to come from the Canadian side. \u201cI don\u2019t see the U.S. taking the initiative,\u201d Ross said. <\/p>\n