Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney tried to turn down the heat in an increasingly acrimonious back-and-forth with U.S. President Trump, telling reporters on Sunday that his country had no plans to pursue a proposed trade deal with China after Mr. Trump threatened retaliatory tariffs.
Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Saturday that he would impose a 100% tariffs “against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A,” if Canada signs a trade agreement with China.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Carney have been at odds for months in a feud that began with the American president’s musings about Canada becoming the 51st state, and Mr. Trump began his latest salvo with another dig at the Canadian leader, referring to him as “governor.”
“If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken. China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Mr. Trump wrote.
But speaking to reporters from Ottawa on Sunday, Mr. Carney said he had no intention of signing a sweeping trade agreement with China.
He said his recent deal with China only cuts tariffs on a few sectors, and that his country would be “going back to the future” on the key trade issues of EVs, agriculture and fish products.
He reaffirmed Canada’s commitment to the United States-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement, which includes restrictions on trade deals with non-free market economies.
“We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy,” Mr. Carney said. “What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years.”
The trilateral agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada is intended to facilitate trade across borders in North America. But in early 2025, Mr. Trump imposed 25% tariffs on most Canadian exports, which have hurt Canada’s automotive, energy and lumber sectors significantly.
The first scheduled review of the USMCA will take place in July and requires all countries to agree to continue with the terms of the deal.
Mr. Carney made an official visit to China last week, where he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to mutually lower tariffs on select goods, with Canada agreeing to lower some restrictions on Chinese EVs and China agreeing to lower tariffs on Canadian agricultural products.
“Canada’s new government is building a stronger Canadian economy, with a plan that is building our strength at home and strengthening our trading partnerships throughout the world,” Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s intergovernmental trade minister, wrote on X Saturday.
Mr. Trump seemed accepting of the Canada–China deal when it was announced last week, with the president saying it would probably be a “good thing” if Canada made a lucrative deal with China.
But Mr. Trump’s attitude shifted quickly after a speech delivered Tuesday by Mr. Carney in Davos, Switzerland, in which the prime minister blasted the use of aggressive tariffs, the decline of international institutions and the emergence of great power struggles.
Mr. Carney also indicated that he believed the “old order” to be dead and that Canada would not expect things to return to the way they were before Mr. Trump returned to office.
While his speech did not mention Mr. Trump by name, the president aimed directly at Canada when he spoke at the World Economic Forum one day later.
“I watched your prime minister yesterday,” Mr. Trump said. “He wasn’t so grateful. They should be grateful to us, Canada. Canada lives because of the United States.”
Mr. Trump also publicly revoked Canada’s invitation to the U.S.-sponsored Gaza Board of Peace on Thursday.
Mr. Carney had expressed skepticism about the board’s ability to maintain peace and rebuild Gaza and his government had rejected paying the $1 billion fee to become a permanent member.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday defended Mr. Trump’s shifted position on Canada’s dealings with China, arguing that Mr. Carney performed a “kind of about-face.”
“We can’t let Canada become an opening that the Chinese pour their cheap goods into the U.S. We have a USMCA agreement, but based on that, which is going to be renegotiated this summer, and I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here, other than trying to virtue-signal to his globalist friends at Davos,” Mr. Bessent told ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week.”
