Trump threatens Canada with 100% tariffs if it signs a trade deal with China
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Chinese president sealed a "preliminary" agreement last week.
US President Donald Trump threatened Canada on Saturday with a 100% tariff on all its products if it strikes a trade deal with China. Through his social media platform, Truth Social, he asserted that if Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney "thinks he can turn Canada into a gateway for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is very wrong."
"China will swallow Canada whole, devour it completely, including the destruction of its businesses, its social fabric, and its way of life in general. If Canada signs a deal with China, a 100% tariff will be immediately imposed on all Canadian goods and products entering the United States."
A showdown with Carney
Trump's message is a response to what Carney said a week ago. a meeting with the president of ChinaXi Jinping, during an official visit to the Asian country, declared that bilateral relations with China are "more predictable" than those Canada has with the United States after Trump's return to the White House. Specifically, both countries announced a "new strategic partnership" driven byDonald Trump's major tariff pressuresDuring his state visit to Beijing, Carney advocated for a new relationship "adapted to the new global realities." This is a way of acknowledging that Donald Trump's trade war is forcing Canada to seek new markets, including in China. These positive words have a direct commercial impact. Canada has announced it will eliminate the 100% tariffs imposed on Chinese electric vehicles in 2024 and will allow 49,000 vehicles to enter the market at a preferential rate of only 6.1%. For its part, China will reduce tariffs on Canadian rapeseed. For now, this is the most visible aspect of the agreement, which aims to increase trade and reduce, or in some cases eliminate, bureaucratic barriers. Furthermore, Carney's speech at the Davos Forum was instrumental in further angering Donald Trump; a speech in which he urged "middle powers" to confront Trump's policies with a united front. The audience rose to their feet to applaud him, a rare occurrence at a meeting of this kind.
"Stop invoking a rules-based international order, as if it still works. Call the system what it is: a period in which the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as a weapon of coercion. (...) The old order will not return, and one more thing we can lament is that middle powers have the most to lose in a world of fortifications, and the most to gain in a world of genuine cooperation," he declared in Davos.
"When we negotiate bilaterally with the hegemonic power, we do so from a position of weakness. We accept what is offered to us. We compete with each other to see who can best accommodate us. That is not sovereignty; it is a charade of sovereignty while we accept subordination," Carney lamented. This week, Trump stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos that "Canada exists because of the United States." Carney responded that Canadians are the "owners" of their country and that their nation can be an example that the world doesn't have to give in to autocratic tendencies.