“Canada – USA Tariff Wars”

TORONTO—Doug Ford came out swinging.

After trade talks collapsed and the U.S. imposed new tariffs on Canada last weekend, the Ontario premier urged his country to take a hard line with the U.S. President Trump, he said, was a “dictator,” a “loser,” the “king of bankruptcies” and could “kiss my ass.”

How angry was he on a scale of one to 100? “110,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

Related …

Raitt “But I do agree with the Conservatives that it would be very helpful to have a very coherent session with media, with Parliament, from the trade negotiators at a table being able to answer questions as to what was on the table, what was not on the table and what caused the… pic.twitter.com/oh1gXuZaoO

— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) August 26, 2026

Despite the U.S. and Canada coming very, very close to a concord on trade, it fell apart at the 11th hour.

The result? 50 per cent tariffs on more than $28 billion worth of Canadian exports. And Canada pledging dollar-for-dollar retaliation.

Now, there is still reason to believe this might be temporary. Both sides get hurt in a trade war. Canada more so, obviously, just given our relative size as compared to the U.S. market.

“We’ve got the reserves, we’ve got the resilience, we’ve got the plan,” a defiant Mark Carney told journalists after the breakdown of trade talks with the White House over the weekend.

Few would make the case that Canada was “attacked” and therefore is “at war”, as its prime minister plainly put it, and the idea that the country is in a position to withstand a full-blown economic conflict with the US is pretty silly.

Nearly 75pc of Canadian exports head to the US market, and the US economy is roughly 10 times larger. Meanwhile, the new sweeping tariff slate covers another C$28bn (£15bn) worth of Canadian exports – equivalent to 5pc of products sent south of the border.

In response to the ongoing trade dispute, the Canadian government has placed new surtaxes on a wide range of goods imported from the United States.

The table below includes some of the key products on the government’s list. CTVNews.ca has broken down the items into simple, everyday categories—from dairy and household appliances to clothing and sporting goods—to show you which items will be affected and at what rate, either 25% or 50%.

Potash is Canada’s “pink gold” — one of the country’s most valuable natural resources and a cornerstone of global food production.

With tensions escalating between Canada and the United States, some Canadians want Ottawa to impose a surtax on potash exports to the American market. The proposal appears compelling. The United States depends heavily on Canadian potash, an essential fertilizer used to produce corn, wheat, soybeans and many other crops. If Washington targets Canadian industries, why shouldn’t Canada retaliate with a resource American farmers cannot easily do without?

It’s rare to hear so many figures in the U.S. administration talking about Canada.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump posted a threat to impose 50-per-cent tariff on all Canadian cars and Vice-President JD Vance was at a rally in Maine smiling at his own smarmy joke about Canada being a state. The day before, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was predicting a weak Canada would rush negotiators back to the table to avoid the devastating impact of U.S. tariffs.

Prime Minister Mark Carney blew up the trade discussion based on his demand that: Canada should be allowed to make any deal they want with China; that Chinese component parts be allowed in Canadian assembled Semi Trucks; that streaming services install a French language search… pic.twitter.com/Nqt9LFYT8p

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) August 25, 2026

Welcome to Trade Wars, the reality show that pits the mighty United States of America against the mouse that roared, aka Canada. How’s everyone feeling today? “Kiss my ass!” yells Ontario Premier Doug Ford. “Flunky! I will rename Lake Ontario Lake America,” claps back U.S. President Donald Trump. Insert laugh track, cut to a commercial for a Ford F-150 pickup, and check out the ratings — 76 per cent of Canadians agree with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to quit the talks. Everyone’s watching — what a hit.

The latest failure in the trade talks between Canada and the United States has revealed a basic mismatch between political rhetoric and economic reality. Although Canadian officials, such as Prime Minister Mark Carney and the country’s trade negotiators, are still expressing confidence and maintaining that Canada has real leverage in arriving at a future agreement, the basic economic situation paints a completely different picture—one which Canadian businesses understand far better than the political leadership responsible for representing them.

… The White House has released an official and scathing press release outlining the lengthy and long-term issues with Canada and trade disputes.

TheLastRefuge is a good one to follow.

1. Here’s the breakdown 🧵

There are many people in Canada demanding to see the rough draft proposals of the U.S-Canada trade agreement so they can judge for themselves the issues that Carney claimed were irreconcilable. For those people this interview today by Canadian Trade… pic.twitter.com/lGtJLi6jdf

— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) August 25, 2026

Leblanc is eviscerated.

Dominic LeBlanc faced questions from the American media that he would never face in Canada—and it was painful to watch. pic.twitter.com/9WCMVv1znA

— The Food Professor (@FoodProfessor) August 26, 2026

Ontario Premier Doug Ford fired a series of insults and threats at United States President Donald Trump on Monday afternoon in a growing war of words between the two leaders.

Moments before the Ontario premier’s press conference began, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, accusing him of “bluster” in trade talks and calling him a “flunky.”

A week after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a new deal to expand the Churchill Falls hydroelectric project, he held a press conference in Lévis, Que., on Monday to announce a contract to build six icebreakers for the Coast Guard at the Chantier Davie shipyards.

While Canada desperately needs electricity to power its economy and icebreakers to protect its shores, Carney has yet to demonstrate that his government is capable of enacting economic policies beyond spending massive amounts of borrowed money.