{"id":946056,"date":"2026-10-25T19:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946056\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T19:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T19:34:12","slug":"obama-criticizes-trumps-tariff-war-with-canada-at-u-s-midterm-rallies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/946056\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama criticizes Trump\u2019s tariff war with Canada at U.S. midterm rallies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Former U.S. President Barack Obama at a campaign rally in Detroit on Saturday.Paul Sancya\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Former U.S. president Barack Obama took aim at Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs on Canadian goods Saturday during an impassioned speech at a Democrat campaign rally in Detroit ahead of next month\u2019s U.S. midterm elections.<\/p>\n

During a speech supporting Democratic candidates Abdul El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson, Obama mocked the current president\u2019s tariff war with its northern neighbour while jokingly referring to Canada as a \u201cwell-known evil empire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat historical adversary of ours, Canada,\u201d he said sarcastically. \u201cIt\u2019s your neighbour. It\u2019s a few minutes\u2019 drive over the bridge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The former president says Trump has upset Canadians through his abuse of the country and talks of making it the 51st state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the people who gave us Martin Short and maple syrup,\u201d he said. \u201cThey are the nicest people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The trade war with Canada has been a key issue in the midterm elections, especially in tight races.<\/p>\n

Obama said the impacts of the tariffs are particularly evident in Michigan, a battleground state where auto industry supply chains are deeply integrated with Canada and automakers have long said tariffs increase production costs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Trump] was warned, this will drive prices up, this does not lower prices,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more than a year, Trump has imposed various tariffs on Canadian goods, including steel and aluminum, copper, lumber and alcohol.<\/p>\n

In August, the president imposed sweeping 50 per cent tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian goods, including motor vehicles, after trade talks between the two countries fell apart.<\/p>\n

In response, Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Mark Carney imposed dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump continued to escalate the trade war later that month when he banned imports of certain Canadian goods, including motorcycles, some liquor and whey products.<\/p>\n

With the midterms less than two weeks away, Trump announced Friday he will lift some of those 50 per cent tariffs at the end of the month, while adding tariffs to dozens of new products, including Canadian garbage and sewage.<\/p>\n

The latest move will include tariff exemptions for several products imported from Canada for Maine\u2019s agricultural sector, as current Maine Senator Susan Collins, a Republican, fights for re-election in a tight race.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Canadian diplomats told not to meet with U.S. midterm candidates<\/a><\/p>\n

In Ohio, Obama took aim at Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who has doubled down on an advertising campaign featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton. Trump and Vice President JD Vance have also defended the ad, even as Republican leaders across Ohio, including Gov. Mike DeWine, have called for its removal. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn recent days, we\u2019ve seen there is no line he will not cross, no low he will not sink to,\u201d Obama said of Ramaswamy, noting that Acton has \u201cspoken movingly about her painful childhood and all she\u2019s experienced: abuse, neglect and homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Later in Michigan, Obama condemned critics of Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, suggesting that they\u2019re using his name or his faith to tear him down. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen this movie before. I starred in it,\u201d Obama told a packed high school gym in Detroit. \u201cI\u2019ve got a long-form birth certificate to prove it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAbdul is as Michigan as it gets,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Obama, 65, remains the Democratic Party\u2019s best motivator nearly a decade after leaving the White House. And he\u2019s taking his star power on the road in the final days of the midterm elections, which will help determine the balance of power in American politics on Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

Trump cast his own ballot on Saturday in Florida, where he defended the Ramaswamy ad, which has emerged as a national flashpoint a little more than a week before Election Day. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe mother said that Amy Acton is a liar, and she\u2019s no good,\u201d Trump said. \u201cAnd you know what? I don\u2019t think you can get a better reference on that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Ramaswamy campaign video features Acton\u2019s birth mother, Donna Arthur, calling her \u201ca liar\u201d and insinuating she has mental health issues. <\/p>\n

Acton, Ohio\u2019s COVID-19-era health director, has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. Arthur lost custody of her children after their stepfather, Arthur\u2019s husband, was indicted on a charge of rape involving Acton. <\/p>\n

The abuse allegedly happened from December, 1976 to April, 1978. Cledith Arthur failed to show for a court appearance and became a fugitive. Donna Arthur remained married to him until his death in 2004. <\/p>\n

Former U.S. President Barack Obama rallied Democratic voters in battleground Michigan on Saturday night. (AP video: Mike Householder)<\/p>\n

The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Appearing before Obama, Acton spoke as if addressing Ramaswamy directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy opponent has chosen to exploit, intentionally, my childhood to save his stumbling campaign, but it\u2019s not going to work,\u201d she said. \u201cDecency still matters.\u201d She added: \u201cMr. Ramaswamy, you are not just out of touch, you are out for yourself and you are a danger to my state. Apparently there is no low to which you won\u2019t stoop.\u201d <\/p>\n

Although Ohio has become more reliably Republican, it\u2019s been a hotly contested battleground this year. Trump and Vance have both visited the state in recent weeks to drum up support for Sen. Jon Husted and Ramaswamy. And the controversy over Ramaswamy\u2019s ad has ratcheted up the already high temperature.<\/p>\n

Michigan, too, is a critical state this midterm season, with high-stakes contests for the Senate and governor.<\/p>\n

While Obama addressed both races, he offered a passionate defence of El-Sayed, a former public health official running against former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican. <\/p>\n

The former president pushed back against those who call El-Sayed a radical, declaring that \u201cAbdul shares my values.\u201d He also acknowledged that El-Sayed was critical of him after his 2012 re-election for not following through on all of his progressive campaign promises. <\/p>\n

El-Sayed wrote that Obama \u201cwas not the right choice \u2013 he just wasn\u2019t the wrong one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these folks say, well, you know, Abdul didn\u2019t like some of the things you did as president,\u201d Obama said in Detroit, wearing a blue shirt with no tie, his sleeves rolled up. \u201cYou know who else doesn\u2019t agree with everything I do? Michelle Obama. Michelle Obama, about five times a day.\u201d <\/p>\n

Democrats hoped that Obama\u2019s appearance in the city, which is three-quarters Black, could bolster support for El-Sayed among Black voters. In the primary, his opponent Haley Stevens won Wayne County, which includes Detroit, by about six percentage points. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black and South Asian vice president, campaigned for El-Sayed in September.<\/p>\n

Cheryl McWilliams, 67, said Obama\u2019s speech \u201cpumps you up to vote,\u201d and she\u2019s hoping to see high turnout in the midterms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Detroit doesn\u2019t vote, whoever\u2019s running is going to lose, period,\u201d McWilliams said. \u201cI\u2019m just hoping we can reach voters that don\u2019t vote. They think it doesn\u2019t matter, and it does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chunnika Hodges, who lives in Detroit and canvassed for El-Sayed on Saturday, said some Black voters are supporting Rogers because they don\u2019t think anything has changed after years of voting for Democrats. Some are also wary of El-Sayed because of his progressive policies, Hodges said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t lean to the conservative, but we have seen that within our community,\u201d Hodges said. \u201cThere are conservative Blacks, conservative Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n

What to know about the 2026 U.S. midterm elections<\/a><\/p>\n

While Obama talked up Democratic candidates in Ohio and Michigan, he also spoke at length about Trump.<\/p>\n

He accused the Republican president and his family of rampant corruption and called out his inability to lower costs, noting that Trump has instead focused on building a new White House ballroom and helipad on the South Lawn. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve noticed, but he seems very focused on home renovation,\u201d Obama quipped. \u201cHe should be on HGTV.\u201d He went on: \u201cThere\u2019s gold everywhere. He\u2019s got the White House looking like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Democratic president acknowledged that the nation has Trump for another two years, until his term ends. But voters are not stuck with Trump\u2019s allies, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not stuck with a spineless Congress and Republican governors who are handling lawlessness and carelessness and cruelty and indifference for working people,\u201d Obama said. \u201cAfter two years of chaos and cruelty and corruption and incompetence \u2026 you get a chance to say enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Obama will headline a rally in Georgia next week with Sen. Jon Ossoff and candidate for governor Keisha Lance Bottoms. Trump, campaigning in Perry, Georgia, on Saturday evening with their Republican rivals, made several references to Obama\u2019s Michigan event, insisting \u201cthe place was empty.\u201d<\/p>\n

with files from the Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Former U.S. President Barack Obama at a campaign rally in Detroit on Saturday.Paul…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-946056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=946056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=946056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=946056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=946056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}