{"id":579244,"date":"2026-08-24T22:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579244\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T22:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T22:48:12","slug":"us-and-canada-fall-deeper-into-trade-war-with-new-tariffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/579244\/","title":{"rendered":"US and Canada fall deeper into trade war with new tariffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said today that US trade demands confirmed Canada\u2019s fears that US President Donald Trump was seeking to dismantle its auto industry, as Trump threatened new 50% tariffs<\/a> on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel.<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also warned Canada could cut off electricity and critical minerals to the United States.<\/p>\n

Carney said Canada remained willing to negotiate, but only if Washington approached the talks<\/a> as a partnership between sovereign countries. He said “an attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a subsidiary of the United States” is “not something we\u2019re going to accept\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ford, speaking in an interview with The Associated Press, said Trump has underestimated Canadians\u2019 willingness to endure economic pain rather than give in to US pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe underestimates Canada. We\u2019re all in,\u201d Ford said. \u201cUp here, we\u2019re at a fever pitch, everyone\u2019s in for an economic war. They know they\u2019re going to have to sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump said Monday (local time) that the new 50% tariffs<\/a> on Canadian automobiles, auto parts and steel would begin next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada has been ripping off the United States of America for years,\u201d Trump wrote on social media, criticising what he called Canada\u2019s \u201cridiculously high tariffs\u201d on American farmers.<\/p>\n

Carney said Washington’s auto-sector proposals would \u201cgradually dismantle\u201d Canadian production.<\/p>\n

Carney noted Canada is the largest customer for US automobiles and questioned what Trump\u2019s latest move would mean for workers in states such as Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama who depend on Canadian demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the most successful automotive partnership in history,\u201d Carney said, referring to the deeply integrated Canada-US industry.<\/p>\n

Carney walked away from trade negotiations with the Trump administration late Friday (local time), saying Washington demanded too much in exchange for tariff relief. The United States imposed 50% tariffs on about US$20 billion in Canadian goods, while Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning September 8.<\/p>\n

In the AP interview, Ford said Trump had \u201cdeclared war, economic war against his closest friend and ally\u201d before invoking Ronald Reagan, whose opposition to tariffs Ford previously featured in a television advertising campaign aimed at Americans.<\/p>\n

Ford noted that Trump keeps a portrait of the late president near his desk.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019d be throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on, spinning around in his grave right now,\u201d Ford said. \u201cHe should maybe take that picture off the wall and move it somewhere else. Because right now, Ronald Reagan would be disgusted with President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

The White House responded to Ford\u2019s criticisms by noting that Reagan took similar actions toward Japan that Trump was doing to Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Reagan enacted a 100% tariff on Japanese electronics for dumping on the US market and failing to open up Japan\u2019s market to Made-in-USA goods,\u201d White House spokesman Kush Desai said.<\/p>\n

Ford, a Progressive Conservative, is from a different party than Carney, a Liberal, underscoring the broad political unity in Canada over the trade fight with Trump.<\/p>\n

Ford threatens critical minerals and electricity<\/p>\n

\"Ontario<\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Ford said \u201ceverything is on the table\u201d if the dispute worsens, including cutting off electricity and critical minerals from Ontario. He also called for Canada to consider using oil and potash as leverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll cut them off,\u201d Ford said of critical minerals. \u201cYou won\u2019t get a grain of sand out of Ontario.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critical minerals are increasingly important to US national security and manufacturing. The Pentagon has sought more secure supplies of minerals used in military aircraft, missiles, munitions and electronics as Washington tries to reduce reliance on China, which dominates the mining or processing of several strategically important minerals.<\/p>\n

Ford specifically cited high-grade nickel shipped to the United States and uranium refined in Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat would they do without the high-grade nickel that we ship down to the US?\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Ford said Canada should consider increasingly severe retaliation if Trump continues targeting Canadian industries, including oil and potash, while Ontario could raise electricity prices or stop sending power south.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe power 1.5 million homes and businesses,\u201d Ford said. \u201cEverything\u2019s on the table. I\u2019ll do whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Trump continues trying to dismantle Canadian manufacturing, Ford said, \u201che better have a pack of batteries\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ford has used electricity as leverage before. During an earlier phase of the dispute, Ontario imposed a 25% surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Trump responded by threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium before both sides backed away.<\/p>\n

Auto industry becomes a central battleground<\/p>\n

Ford accused Trump of seeking not simply a better trade deal but to hollow out Canadian industries and move production south.<\/p>\n

Ford said Trump wants to make Canada a vassal state.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wants to bleed out every single sector and bring them down to the US,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

The auto sector is especially important to Ontario, the centre of Canada\u2019s vehicle manufacturing industry. Plants and suppliers in Ontario are tightly integrated with factories in Michigan and other US states, with parts routinely crossing the border multiple times during production.<\/p>\n

Automakers including Ford, General Motors and Stellantis operate major assembly plants in Ontario, and the wider supply chain supports tens of thousands of jobs. Trump\u2019s new threat of a 50% tariff on Canadian vehicles and parts puts that sector directly at the centre of the escalating dispute.<\/p>\n

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Monday that \u201cthe only reason Canada has auto production in the first place\u201d was because of the 1960s Auto Pact, under which Canada used access to its market to encourage vehicle production north of the border.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he thinks the Canadian people are going to roll over and just continue buying American-made vehicles, it\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Ford says he opposed preliminary deal<\/p>\n

\"Rolled<\/p>\n

Rolled coils of steel sit in the yard at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco steel plant in Hamilton, Ontario on Thursday, August 20, 2026. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Ford also disclosed that he had opposed the preliminary agreement Carney was considering before Canada walked away from the negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t supporting the deal,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n

Ford said he was unwilling to restore American liquor to Ontario store shelves as part of an agreement and had been prepared to publicly break with the proposed deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t going to put the booze back on the shelves,\u201d Ford said. \u201cI was ready to go out there and call a press conference … and say I\u2019m not buckling over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford said he understood Washington had sought language late in the negotiations that would have restricted Canada\u2019s ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries without US approval. Carney has called that demand unacceptable and a question of Canadian sovereignty.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho does he think he is?\u201d Ford said of Trump. \u201cYou gotta be kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reagan fight returns<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s Reagan comments revived an earlier clash with Trump. Last year, Ontario paid for US television advertisements featuring excerpts from a 1987 Reagan address warning that tariffs can provoke retaliation and trade wars.<\/p>\n

Trump accused Ontario of misrepresenting Reagan and abruptly ended trade negotiations with Canada. Ford later agreed to pause the campaign so talks could resume.<\/p>\n

Yet despite the increasingly hostile talk, Ford said Canada should remain willing to negotiate<\/p>\n

\u201cI never believe in walking away from the table,\u201d Ford said. \u201cContinue negotiating and see where we go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said today that US trade demands confirmed Canada\u2019s fears that US President Donald…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":579245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,219,42,43,64,40,38,41,39,66],"class_list":["post-579244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-economy","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-us-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=579244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/579244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/579245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=579244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=579244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=579244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}