“Canada – USA Tariff Wars”

Nine centuries ago, the theologian Moses Maimonides, seeking to understand the complexities of life, wrote a volume called The Guide for the Perplexed.

Those searching for wisdom on the state of the Canada-U.S. relationship after the abrupt break in bilateral trade negotiations surely are perplexed − but have no guide.

Canada has kept its defence relationship with the U.S. largely on the sidelines of recent trade talks. But with negotiations broken down, experts say the likelihood of major defence procurements factoring into punitive measures taken by either side is growing.

Talks between the two countries collapsed on Friday just before President Donald Trump’s latest round of tariffs of 50-per-cent on US$20-billion worth of Canadian exports came into effect. Days earlier, the U.S. and Canada had reached a tentative deal, but Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled back at the last minute, stating that the U.S. had changed its terms.

In a brief report long on speculative doom and short on facts and data, ABC News, once again, instinctively took the side oppositional to the Trump administration. This time, the Disney subsidiary parroted the spin of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney while reporting on the collapse of a potential deal between the United States and Canada.

TORONTO—Over the past 17 months, as President Trump has freighted Canada’s economy with several rounds of punishing tariffs, Prime Minister Mark Carney has often repeated the guiding maxim for his negotiations with the U.S.: No deal is better than a bad one.

Now he’s putting that rule to the test.

After nearly a month of trade negotiations aimed at staving off more U.S. tariffs on Canada, Carney walked away from a deal at the last minute on Friday night, allowing levies of 50% on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods to come into force.

TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford is threatening to cut off critical minerals and electricity exports to the United States and has told President Donald Trump he can “kiss my ass” after the latest escalation in the trade war.

In a radio interview Monday morning, Ford responded to Trump’s new threat of 50% tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel starting next year by saying: “Well, he can kiss my ass, as far as I’m concerned.”

Ontario Premier Doug Ford reacted to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to increase tariffs on cars and trucks next year, saying he can “kiss my ass.”

In a post on his Truth Social platform Monday morning, Trump said he will increase tariffs on “all Cars, Trucks, both large… pic.twitter.com/itDS7pGYIh

— CP24 (@CP24) August 24, 2026

When he was asked on Saturday by reporters if Canada was now in a trade war with the United States, Prime Minister Mark Carney said that we were. Because we had been attacked.

I agree with him. But we’re also in an info war. This isn’t something we have traditionally been good at. But it’s something we’re going to have to learn very quickly if we want to avoid being squashed like a bug.

Consider Saturday. As I listened to Carney talk about how amazing our new electricity grid is going to be, I found myself wondering why. It’s not that new hydroelectric production and transmission lines aren’t important. They definitely are. But it wasn’t the story of the day.

Did Quebec made a threat about the Dairy cartel.

U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on all cars and trucks to 50 per cent next year following a collapse in trade talks with Canada.

For the past 18 months, I’ve used the phrase “precarity mindset” to describe something deeper than financial stress. It is the feeling that the systems you depend on may not hold, that the future is getting harder to predict and that events beyond your control can suddenly change the course of your life.

When people feel that way, they do not need a leader to promise that everything will be fine. They need the risk acknowledged, the truth explained, a path forward and some sense that they still have agency.

That was the setting for Prime Minister Mark Carney’s address to Canadians on Saturday morning.

OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is formally requesting that Prime Minister Mark Carney recall Parliament to scrutinize his decisions to end trade talks with the U.S. and retaliate with dollar-for-dollar tariffs.

Poilievre made his request in a letter sent to Carney on Sunday evening, saying “we must put the national interest first.”

“Canadians elect Parliament to defend their interests and decide the hard questions. Those questions can no longer wait. The Official Opposition has a duty to ask questions and hold the government to account. That is why I write to ask you to reconvene Parliament without delay.”