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\n Published on 08\/10\/2025 – 5:26 GMT+2
\n \u2022Updated
\n 5:29\n <\/p>\n
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US President Donald Trump says his country has a \u201cnatural conflict\u201d over the same business with Canada, making striking a trade deal between the two neighbours a \u201ccomplicated situation\u201d.<\/p>\n
The comments came as he met with Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Mark Carney at the Oval Office on Tuesday to discuss trade after Trump slapped one of the US\u2019 closest trading partners with 35% tariffs on most of its goods.<\/p>\n
While other countries, including the UK, the EU, South Korea and Japan were able to strike deals to decrease the tariffs imposed on them, Canada is not part of that list and still faces one of the higher rates imposed by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Tariffs started after Trump accused Canada, under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, of enabling the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs, namely fentanyl, into the US through a lack of diligent policing.<\/p>\n
Mexico was also victim to the same accusation, and it too was slapped by the Trump cabinet with a heavy tariff for its part in that.<\/p>\n
Carney\u2019s second visit to the Oval Office since succeeding Trudeau in March came ahead of next year\u2019s review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and as one of the world\u2019s most durable and amicable alliances has been fractured by Trump\u2019s trade war and annexation threats.<\/p>\n
Trump said he was open to extending the free trade agreement with Mexico and Canada through a renegotiation or seeking \u201cdifferent deals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The agreement was enacted during Trump\u2019s first term and it allows the majority of Canadian and Mexican goods to be shipped to the US without tariffs.<\/p>\n
Trump has made it clear however since returning to office that he wants to reshape that relationship, and expressed mixed feelings over the process as long as he feels like he\u2019s able to improve Washington\u2019s position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could renegotiate it, and that would be good, or we can just do different deals,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re allowed to do different deals if we want. We might make deals that are better for the individual countries.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carney entered the visit hoping to find some relief on sector-specific tariffs. Trump has some sector-specific tariffs on Canada \u2013 known as Section 232 tariffs \u2013 that are having an impact. There are 50% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, for example.<\/p>\n
There is fear in Canada over what will happen to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is critical to Canada\u2019s economy. More than three-quarters of Canada\u2019s exports go to the US.<\/p>\n
Trump, who showed a fondness for Carney, something he didn’t have towards his predecessor, noted there was a \u201cnatural conflict\u201d between the two countries, a point to which the Canadian premier politely disagreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have natural conflict,\u201d he said. \u201cWe also have mutual love.\u201d Carney said he wouldn’t use the word \u201cconflict.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are areas where we compete, and it\u2019s in those areas where we have to come to an agreement that works. But there are more areas where we are stronger together, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on,\u201d stressed Carney.<\/p>\n
This is a low point in US-Canada relations, a situation largely exacerbated by Trump\u2019s hostility and repeated remarks expressing interest in \u201ctaking ownership\u201d of his northern neighbour and making them the 51st US state.<\/p>\n
The US president even made a joking reference to a \u201cmerger\u201d between the two countries at the top of his remarks on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The comments have infuriated many Canadians, who have avoided travel to the US, as data from Canada\u2019s national statistical office indicates a 23% decline in Canadians dropping south of the border in the first seven months of this year, compared to last year.<\/p>\n
Trump dismissed the issue, saying that Canadians still \u201clove\u201d the US, and asserting that relations will be \u201cbetter than they ever were\u201d once the two countries reach a trade deal.<\/p>\n
Additional sources \u2022 AP<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 08\/10\/2025 – 5:26 GMT+2 \u2022Updated 5:29 ADVERTISEMENT US President Donald Trump says his country has a…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":285942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2147,69,18809,50,36732,67,5223],"class_list":{"0":"post-285941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-mark-carney","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-trump-tariffs","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-white-house"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115337358768854050","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}