Tensions between the United States and Canada

On Friday evening, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade negotiations with the United States regarding the revision of the USMCA free trade agreement (in which Mexico is also a party), after the White House had demanded – according to reports so far – that Ottawa agree to restrict its freedom to enter into future agreements with third countries, alongside granting Washington exclusive access to critical Canadian minerals – in addition to requests to amend regulations protecting the French language, an essential element of Quebec citizens’ identity. These conditions were deemed incompatible with the country’s sovereignty, and for this reason Carney withdrew his negotiating team. The talks were also aimed at reducing US tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium. Consequently, with the deal having fallen through, new 50 per cent tariffs came into force on Saturday on approximately 28 billion Canadian dollars’ worth of goods; these had been announced on 20 July to take effect on 19 August but were then postponed by three days to allow time for negotiations.

In a government statement published at the weekend, Prime Minister Carney initially responded that, from 8 September, Ottawa would respond ‘dollar for dollar’ to the trade measures taken by the White House. However, just yesterday, President Donald Trump raised the bar once again, announcing that from 2027, tariffs on Canadian cars would rise from 25 to 50 per cent.

The rift between the two North American countries was celebrated above all by the Chinese state media. The Global Times devoted an editorial to the Canadian response, referring to a ‘Chinese-style counterattack’, quoting the US Trade Representative, Jamieson Greer, who had stated: ‘Two countries in the world have reacted against us: China and Canada’. Bo Guagua, son of former Communist Party official Bo Xilai, went even further in a post on X, calling on Ottawa to treat Beijing as a stable partner – for example, by lifting the remaining restrictions on Chinese electric cars and even facilitating their production in Canada.