US President Donald Trump has intensified his trade confrontation with Canada, calling it the ‘most difficult and unreasonable’ trading partner and claiming the country could not survive economically without access to the US market.
The White House accused Canada of exploiting the US market for decades and said Trump would no longer allow preferential access to the world’s largest economy.
The remarks followed Canada’s decision to impose additional retaliatory tariffs on American products, further straining relations between the two countries.
Washington said it had offered Canada tariff reductions covering steel, aluminium, automobiles and lumber, but accused Ottawa of making unreasonable demands and rejecting proposed terms. It further claimed Canada imposed 25 per cent tariffs and company-specific quotas on US vehicles, contributing to a 22 per cent fall in American automobile exports to Canada over the past year.
The White House criticised Canadian restrictions on American wine, beer and spirits, claiming US alcohol exports to Canada fell by 81 per cent in one year.
Dairy trade has emerged as another major dispute, with Washington accusing Canada of imposing restrictive quotas and tariffs of nearly 300 per cent on some US dairy products.
The White House said the US had recorded an average annual goods trade deficit of about $50 billion with Canada over the past decade. It highlighted Canada’s dependence on the American market, with roughly three-quarters of its goods exports going to the US.
Canada rejected Washington’s stance and said it would match US tariffs ‘dollar-for-dollar, rate for rate’.
From September 8, it will impose 15–50 per cent tariffs on $27.6 billion of US imports and provide a $7.5 billion support package.
The dispute could disrupt deeply integrated US-Canada supply chains under USMCA.
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