President Trump threatens 100% tariffs on all Canadian exports

President Donald Trump says he’ll slap 100% tariffs on everything Canada sells to the US if it goes ahead with its new trade deal with China.

Trump posted the threat on social media, calling Prime Minister Mark Carney “Governor Carney” in what’s become his ongoing joke about wanting Canada as America’s 51st state. He said Canada was “sorely mistaken” for opening its doors to more Chinese electric vehicles.

“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump wrote. He said 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.”

This comes after Canada and China announced a big trade agreement last week. The deal lowers trade barriers between the two countries and rebuilds ties that had fallen apart. It’s a clear break from Trump’s trade policies.

Carney traveled to Beijing last Friday and met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. No Canadian leader had visited China’s capital in eight years. Carney said China expects to cut tariffs on Canadian rapeseed, also known as canola.

Canada’s side of the bargain? It will let 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into its market at a tariff rate of about 6%, scrapping a 100% surtax. China will also offer visa-free travel to Canadians.

Right after signing the deal, Carney gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He warned against coercion by great powers; everyone knew he meant Trump, even though he didn’t say the name. Carney took aim at using “tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.”

Trump didn’t take that lying down. He accused Canada of ingratitude for American military protection and said the country “lives because of the United States.” Carney rejected that claim.

There’s more. Trump withdrew an invitation for Canada to join his so-called Board of Peace just a week after Carney had signed onto it. Trump said Canada opposes his planned “Golden Dome” missile-defense project, though it’s not clear if that’s actually Ottawa’s position. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that Trump had asked Canada to take part in the project.

At Davos, Carney called on middle powers to band together to resist intimidation from great powers.

Unclear terms and trade agreement details

Nobody’s quite sure what Trump means by a “deal”, the Canada-China pact was basically a trade, focused on agriculture and electric vehicles. The White House didn’t immediately respond to questions.

It’s also unclear what any change would mean for goods traded under the USMCA trade deal. Right now, goods under that agreement are typically tariff free, which means most Canadian exports to the US face no tariff. The current tariff for non-excluded goods is 35%, with different rates for certain sectors like steel and aluminum.

Things between Washington and Ottawa have gotten ugly since Trump’s return to the White House. His decision to raise tariffs on goods from Canada triggered widespread outrage. Many Canadians are boycotting American products and skipping travel to the US.

Canada has historically routed much of its trade south to the US. Now the country is aggressively looking to increase trade ties east to Europe and west to Asia. That includes sealing this trade deal with China and seeking new links with India—two countries that openly feuded with Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, in recent years.

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