President Donald Trump responded Sunday after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney walked away from trade negotiations and accused Washington of trying to pressure Canada into a bad deal.
“Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one!!!”
He followed with a blunt warning:
“No more!!!”
Trump also accused Canada of imposing heavy tariffs on American farmers for years. It was his first public response since the talks collapsed Friday night.
The administration’s new 50 percent tariffs took effect early Saturday on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods. The list includes wine, hockey sticks, cement and plywood. A product can qualify under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreementt and still get hit. Energy, potash, and critical minerals were left out, along with goods already subject to separate national-security tariffs.
Carney offered Canada’s version of the breakdown Saturday. He said American negotiators introduced new demands in the final hour involving Canada’s trade relationships with other countries, its auto industry and protections for Canadian culture and the French language. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer disputed that account, saying it was Canada that walked back prior commitments and introduced new demands of its own.
“The U.S. introduced at the last hours, in the last hour, efforts to restrict our ability to have other trade deals.”
He framed the broader stakes in blunt terms:
“It’s a power play and, you know, [it] becomes a question of sovereignty.”
Carney still rejected the package: “They asked too much, and they offered too little.”
Canada set Sept. 8 for its countertariffs, with U.S. steel, dairy, appliances, farm equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics on the list. Carney also promised help for Canadian businesses but did not offer details Saturday.
Greer called Canada’s decision a “missed opportunity.” The U.S. offer included lower tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, autos and lumber, plus a broader partnership covering critical minerals, aerospace, digital trade and export controls.
Zero tariffs were not on the table. The reported offer set steel and aluminum at 25 percent instead of 50 percent, but capped the amount of Canadian steel that could qualify. Autos went from 25 percent to 15 percent, with U.S.-made parts counted in the formula.
American negotiators wanted an end to provincial boycotts of U.S. wine and spirits, no more Canadian tariffs on American cars and more access to Canada’s protected dairy market. Ottawa came looking for lower U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos and softwood lumber.
Carney reached for martial language to describe the tariffs:
“We’re attacked. Like you’re at war when you get attacked, we got attacked.”
He pivoted quickly to defiance:
“We’ve got the reserves. We’ve got resilience. We have the plan.”
It is worth noting that the attack he described came after Canada spent decades running protected dairy and lumber markets while blocking American wine and spirits from provincial shelves.
Carney walked away with lower U.S. tariffs still sitting on the table, and the 50 percent rate took effect. Canada gets its turn Sept. 8.
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