Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada over its proposed trade deal with China.
Canada negotiated an agreement to lower tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in return for lower import taxes on Canadian farm products earlier this month.
The US president initially said it was what Canadian prime minister Mark Carney “should be doing and it’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal”.
But in a post on Mr Trump’s Truth social media platform on Saturday, he said if Mr 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”.
Donald Trump in Davos. Pic: AP
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” 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 USA.”
Mr Trump also referred to Canada’s leader as “Governor Carney”, a continuation of the nickname he used for predecessor Justin Trudeau, in a further sign of their deteriorating relationship.
Carney has not yet reached a deal with Mr Trump to reduce some of the tariffs that he has already imposed on key sectors of the Canadian economy.
But Canada has been protected by the heaviest impact of the tariffs by the Canada-US-Mexico Agreement, which is up for a review this year.
Mark Carney addresses the Davos crowd. Pic: Reuters
The tariff threat came amid an escalating war of words with Mr Carney as the US president’s push to acquire Greenland strained the NATO alliance.
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Mr Carney, the former Bank of England governor, called for a new alliance to face down American and Chinese belligerence at a speech in Davos, Switzerland, this week.
When Mr Trump took to the stage, he said that “Canada lives because of the United States” before the Canadian PM said his country can be an example that the world does not have to bend toward autocratic tendencies.
Mr Trump later revoked his invitation to Mr Carney to join his “Board of Peace”, an idea first proposed when he announced his plan to end the war in Gaza, but which now has designs to tackle other global conflicts.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump posted on social media an altered image showing a map of the United States that included Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part of its territory.
