As if U.S. officials didn’t have enough on their plate these days, they can now add a trade war with Canada to the mix—and with it, one more dent to a relationship that historically is one of the closest the United States has with another country. President Donald Trump has done the impossible by turning America’s pleasant neighbor up north into a combatant.
After Trump in July threatened to enact an additional 50% tariff on $20 billion worth of Canadian exports to the United States, U.S. and Canadian officials hustled back to the negotiating table to craft a deal that would avert another dispute between the two allies. The Trump administration wanted to rebalance what it termed an unfair trading relationship by, among other things, pushing Canada into accepting more U.S. dairy products, getting U.S. alcohol back in Canadian stores and getting Ottawa to drop the tariffs it placed on U.S. exports in retaliation for earlier levies the White House imposed last year. Canada’s asks included Trump suspending the threatened 50% tariffs and lowering the import duties on Canadian raw materials. There was a deal to be had if cooler heads prevailed.
Yet at the last hour, the negotiations collapsed. U.S. officials blamed Canada for introducing last-minute demands. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, meanwhile, pointed the finger at the Trump administration for trying to handicap Canada’s sovereignty by restricting its ability to sign trade agreements with other countries. For Carney, Washington’s demands were simply unfathomable. The next day, the Canadian premier delivered a speech explaining why he ordered his negotiators to leave the table and all but stated that Canada was now in a state of war with its southern neighbor.
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