The only good news on a terrible day is that Canadians are united.
The bad news is bad, though. Canada is entering an asymmetric trade war with the largest and most powerful country in the world. If Donald Trump wants to drive us into a recession, he can do so, and there are other horrible things he could do if he wants.
United? Nope. Just the Star ratcheting up the fear.
Midnight came and Canada got the bill it earned.
After weeks of talks and a last-minute scramble that looked promising even to President Trump, the 50 percent tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods took effect early Saturday. Wine. Hockey sticks. Cement. Plywood. Liquor. The list is long. Energy and critical minerals are exempted. Everything else that Canada has been shipping south while playing games with American producers is now more expensive by half.
h/t patthedog
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said he walked away from a “bad deal” with the United States and that Canada is now “at war” after being “attacked” by steep tariffs on $29 billion worth of Canadian goods going south of the border.
“We were attacked. You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” Carney told reporters gather in the West Block foyer on Parliament Hill.
The problem is we’ll be the collateral damage for General Carney’s folly.
In the end, Canada and the United States didn’t get a trade deal. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter.
Yes, a deal would have prevented further economic woes imposed on Canada in the short run. But what matters is that the Carney government didn’t give in to the Trump administration’s economic coercion.
Our right to suffer the Laurentian Elite’s economic coercion has been preserved!
OTTAWA – The United States is imposing a 50 per cent tariff on a range of Canadian exports starting Saturday, after the two countries could not reach a new deal before a deadline imposed by President Donald Trump.
Trump threatened the new tariffs in July to pressure Canada to move on a number of issues that were flagged as irritants to the U.S., including provincial bans on alcohol imports, tariffs on some American made auto exports and quotas on tariff-free U.S. dairy exports.
Crisis Carney’s big moment: selling “no deal is better than a bad deal” after Canada really, really wanted a deal
Catherine Cullen on CBC just admitted the quiet part out loud: Mark Carney now has to explain to premiers, businesses, and Canadians why the crisis he was elected to… pic.twitter.com/YHUUlvydSe
— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) August 22, 2026
OTTAWA – The head of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce calls the breakdown in talks for a Canada-U.S. trade deal a “self-defeating” body blow for continental competitiveness.
Candance Laing, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president, says in a statement no deal means American costs will go up and some Canadian firms will close.
Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said on social media that walking away from a bad deal “is the right choice for Canada.”
I haven’t seen the Chamber of Commerce this upset since word of the massive abuse of the TFW program broke … Oh wait a minute they’re cheerleaders for that evil.
As well as Mass Immigration.
A potential deal between the U.S. and Canada fell apart Friday, leaving new tariffs to take effect, a move expected to escalate tensions between the Trump administration and America’s northern neighbor.
Beer, cheese and a long list of other Canadian imports become subject to new 50 percent tariffs at midnight Saturday.
Negotiators from the two countries had worked for weeks to reach a deal to avoid the tariffs, which President Donald Trump announced last month. Trump paused the implementation of the tariffs earlier this week as talks continued. But officials said late Friday night that a deal had not been reached and tariffs would go into effect.
Carney didn’t share details of the negotiation.
As bits and bites were leaked it became apparent that it was a crappy deal for Canada with the Auto sector being slowly suffocated and the Dairy Cartel untouched.
Was the negative reaction to the leaks the real reason Carney walked away.
Carney says U.S. ‘asked too much and offered too little’ after trade talks fall apart
LIVE: Canada’s response to U.S. tariffs • EN DIRECT : Notre réponse aux droits de douane américains https://t.co/w51zKGOAlq
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) August 22, 2026
Crucial trade talks between the United States and Canada to stave off punishing new tariffs by the Trump administration on Canadian goods collapsed late Friday, with Canada saying it would retaliate “dollar for dollar.”
United States trade representative Jamieson Greer told reporters that Canada had walked away from the negotiating table after days of talks had brought them close to an agreement that would avert 50 percent tariffs on more Canadian goods. President Trump had this week repeatedly said that the two countries, locked into a trade war since last year, were very close to a “good deal.”
An agreement between the US and Canada to avert a fresh round of tariffs fell apart at the last minute, meaning the Trump administration will impose a 50% import tax on billions of dollars in Canadian goods.
New tariffs will kick in at 12:01 a.m. time on Saturday on hundreds of items the US buys from Canada, such as plywood, liquor, electrical equipment and hockey gear.
Carney Bloviates
My statement on Canada-U.S. trade negotiations: pic.twitter.com/65OuQH40ra
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) August 22, 2026
CBC confirms collapse – Canada declines to finalize trade deal, new tariffs set to take effect: U.S. trade rep
Canada vows dollar-for-dollar response to Trump’s 50% tariffs
Canada rejects U.S. trade deal, tariffs come into force
Canada and the United States are once again negotiating under the threat of tariffs. Washington has temporarily postponed a proposed 50% tariff on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods while the two countries attempt to finalize a broader trade arrangement.
Dairy access, along with American alcohol sales in Canada, has emerged as a central U.S. grievance. The threatened tariffs are excessive, and their legal justification is debatable. But Ottawa cannot dismiss every American complaint as protectionist fiction. On dairy, Washington is asking Canada to demonstrate that the market access it promised when CUSMA took effect in 2020 is real.
After more than a year of political tensions and fractured trade relations that sparked nationwide movements to buy domestically and avoid travel to the United States, Canadians increased their trips south of the border this summer – but not by much.
In June, Canadian residents returned from 2.3 million trips to the U.S., marking a 5 per cent year-over-year increase, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.
The Carney government should not be surprised that the U.S. administration is again using tariff threats to secure Canadian concessions.
Ottawa helped make itself predictable. Over the past year, Washington has learned that Canada is divided and that applying pressure can produce results.
A 15 per cent tariff on Canadian-made cars entering the U.S. would still be a major problem for this country’s automotive sector even if it’s better than what we’ve been threatened with, industry analysts say.
According to reports from several U.S. publications, the U.S. has agreed to cut the tariff on Canadian-made cars from the current 25 per cent to 15, as part of a tentative trade deal this week.
The bigger problem, experts say, is that the tariff would likely apply to all non-U.S. content, including Canadian-made parts.
In just about every public appearance he has made over the last few months, Doug Ford has expressed his displeasure with Donald Trump.
Often it comes as an aside to his scripted remarks, as when the Ontario premier, while recently mentioning the importance of trust in a trade relationship, veered off to say that he didn’t “trust Trump as far as I could throw him.” Or, when saying how much he generally likes Americans, he’ll pause and say, “I’ll tell ya, there’s one guy down there I don’t like too much.”
Ford adviser …
Kory Teneycke wearing a $10,000 Gucci leather jacket insults Conservative MPs and Pierre Poilievre. Not a good look considering he made his wealth from the Conservative party. https://t.co/Dd911VqsTq pic.twitter.com/hvphcK1FE1
— Moose on the Loose (@dsimieritsch) August 20, 2026
h/t Mauser
