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Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada has “no intention” of pursuing a free trade agreement with China, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to impose crippling tariffs if Canada “makes a deal with China.”
“What we’ve done with China is to rectify some issues that have developed in the last couple of years,” Carney told reporters Sunday morning in Ottawa, referring to trade items like Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), agriculture and fish products.
Carney said Canada “respects our commitments” to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, which requires any of the three countries to notify the others ahead of time if they want to pursue a free trade agreement with a non-market country — like China.
Still, Trump threatened on Saturday to impose a 100 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods entering the U.S. if Canada “makes a deal with China.” But the U.S. president did not specify what a “deal” is in his social media post.
“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,” the U.S. president wrote in his post — referring to the prime minister as governor, a jab he often reserved for Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau.
Politicians in Ottawa and elsewhere are reacting after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods if the country ‘makes a deal with China.’ Canadian Identity and Culture Minister Marc Miller said the government will take Trump’s statement seriously, ‘but we have to control what we control.’
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump said.
Last week, Canada reached an agreement with China to allow 49,000 Chinese EVs into the market at a lowered tariff rate of 6.1 per cent in exchange for China lowering tariffs on Canadian canola and other products.
Trump’s latest threat is a departure from his initial comments after Canada struck the agreement with China. He appeared unfazed and said last week the agreement is a “good thing.”
“That’s what [Carney] should be doing. It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If you can get a deal with China, you should do that,” Trump told reporters at the White House at the time.
On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent provided some clarity on Trump’s threat and said the tariffs are possible if Canada makes a free trade deal with China.
“If they go further — if we see that the Canadians are allowing the Chinese to dump goods [into the United States],” Bessent said on ABC’s This Week.
Tensions between Trump and Canada have escalated in the aftermath of Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland — where he said “American hegemony” and “great powers” are using economic integration as “weapons.”
Trump criticized Carney’s comments in his own speech and said “Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”
How will Canada put Carney’s words into action?
One of the top questions after Carney’s speech in Davos, which also called on middle powers to team up to protect themselves from global hegemons, is what tangible steps Canada will take to achieve this newly outlined foreign policy vision.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live that the job falls to her and other ministers.
“As a middle power, what we seek to do is ensure that our interests are being met, and we do that with a group of countries on several issues already. Look at the ‘coalition of the willing’ on Ukraine,” Anand told host Rosemary Barton.
“Indeed, at Davos, I met with a group of countries that wanted to address Ukraine’s energy needs in the face of illegal and unjustifiable Russian strikes at their electricity grid,” Anand added.
“These are the types of pragmatic steps that we will continue to take as middle powers and ensure we’re meeting the moment.”
Carney’s speech has cost Canada a spot in one prospective alliance, at least for now: Trump’s “Board of Peace” initiative for Gaza. The U.S. president disinvited the prime minister in the days after his remarks in Davos.
Anand said she did not expect Canada to be disinvited, but “our policy in terms of the Middle East, in terms of assisting Gaza, will continue.”
The foreign affairs minister also did not express concern about Canada’s relationship with the United States after Trump’s latest threat. Anand told Barton she will be travelling to the U.S. next week to discuss critical minerals with other countries.
“We need to protect and empower the Canadian economy, and trade diversification is fundamental to that. That is why we went to China, that’s why we will be going to India. And that is why we won’t put all our eggs in one basket,” Anand said.
