President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if it goes ahead with a trade deal with China in a Truth Social post on Jan. 24, following a string of insults lobbed at its neighbor during the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, earlier this week.
Referring to the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as “Governor Carney” − drawing on his oft-stated desire to annex Canada and absorb it as the 51st state of the U.S. − Trump wrote if 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,” he wrote. “If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.”
Trump has been incensed with Carney ever since his attention-grabbing speech at Davos describing a “rupture” in the world order and making clear that Canada opposed tariffs over Greenland and stood firmly with Denmark on its sovereignty over the arctic island.
“We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition,” Carney said Jan. 20. “Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons.”
“The question for middle powers, like Canada, is not whether to adapt to this new reality. We must,” Carney said. “Middle powers must act together, because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu,” Carney said.
Trump shot back saying Canada “should be grateful” to the U.S. “but they’re not.”
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way,” Trump said on Jan 21. “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
A day later, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was excluding Carney from his Board of Peace, which Trump established to help rebuild Gaza but has since expanded to target other conflicts.
“The Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote on Jan. 22.
Matthew Holmes, the chief of Public Policy at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, in a statement to USA TODAY on Jan. 24, said the Canadian government had made clear that deal with China was about domestic consumers and businesses in Canada and China, “not schemes aimed at other markets.”
“At the same time, the United States has said it is also pursuing its own new trade engagement with China,” said Holmes. “No business can survive forever with one customer. A structured and stable relationship with China or any other country, like our new engagements with Indonesia or the UAE, are not to replace our deeply rooted relationship with the United States.”
Canada has not yet reached a trade deal with the U.S. and the 2020 Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement is up for review this year.
Three hours after his first Truth Social post, Trump fired off another missive on the China-Canada deal at 11:36 a.m.
“The last thing the World needs is to have China take over Canada,” he wrote. “It’s NOT going to happen, or even come close to happening!”
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal