“Canada – USA Tariff Wars”

On a Monday night in York, Pa., Michael Helfrich was among the regulars gathered inside First Capital Dispensing Co., a smoky bar where the two-man band Snack Club played Dolly Parton covers.

Mr. Helfrich took a drag from his cigarette and moved his foot to the beat. Formerly York’s mayor, he left office in January and has since taken a hiatus from all things political. “I’m completely out of it,” he said. “I’ve given over 100 per cent for a long time, so this was my time to step away. … I’m exhausted, you know? I fought and fought and fought since I was a teenager.”

Canada seems to have inadvertently slid into negotiations toward a new trade “deal” – essentially legitimizing U.S. tariffs and effectively destroying or, at the very least, sidelining the USMCA.

Have we allowed our normally calm demeanour to be penetrated by the rantings of a mercurial President? Or, have we perhaps been skilfully maneuvered into sabotaging our own free trade agreement by an expert trade negotiator?

Canada has not been an angel.

“Oh spirit of the maple tree the Americans were meme to me” 😂

Mark Carney memes are approaching the steep portion of the Chamath humiliation curve pic.twitter.com/VMDls8HymU

— Dram McCloudigan (@himmyhapperson) September 6, 2026

OTTAWA — Before Donald Trump‘s second term in the White House, there was a rough sequence to Canada’s trade wars with the United States. Things got bad. Things got tense. Then, through an agreement that each country believed was mutually beneficial, things cooled down.

This was the case when trade tensions preceded the signing of 1965’s Canada-United States Automotive Products Agreement — also known as the “Auto Pact” — which helped establish an integrated car manufacturing industry across the border. It happened again when protectionism gave way to free trade after the hard-fought federal election campaign of 1988.

Dear Mark,

Sorry to be writing you yet another missive about this whole auto-industry tariff thing. It is getting tedious, isn’t it? For me, too. And pardon the presumption of addressing this directly to you. It is, of course, the height of hubris for any journalist, let alone one whose column is called Motor Mouth, to think you might read our nonsense.

President Donald Trump said that Canada-based ‌aircraft manufacturer Bombardier will no longer be allowed to sell in the United States as the trade tiff with Canada continues to escalate.

Trump posted on Truth Social about the company on Sunday afternoon. Bombardier is one of the world’s biggest producers of business jets, and Trump said that the company would have to build in the U.S. if it wants access to U.S. markets.

On Tuesday, Canada is set to slap countertariffs on roughly $28-billion of U.S. goods, ranging from carpets and cutlery to radiators and steel rods, barring a last-minute deal between the two countries.

The duties, which would cover hundreds of items, are scheduled to come into effect at 12:01 a.m.

Ottawa has said it designed the tariffs as a tit-for-tat response to President Donald Trump’s use of Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 on roughly the same dollar figure worth of Canadian shipments to the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump took another jab at Prime Minister Mark Carney on Sunday, sharing a cartoon image on Truth Social of the two world leaders playing hockey.

In the photo, Trump is donning a USA Hockey jersey and standing over Carney, sprawled on the ice while wearing a Hockey Canada sweater, with Trump telling Carney: “Get up, governor.”

Donald Trump seemingly has a new irritant in the trade dispute with Ottawa: The Canadian dollar.

The U.S. president took to social media on Sunday to complain about the cost of the loonie when compared to the U.S. greenback, claiming that the imbalance is “unacceptable.

“It has been that way for years — but no longer!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Sunday without clarifying what he meant.

OTTAWA — The Americans weren’t happy. But Howard Lutnick seemed furious.

It was early March 2025, the final days of Justin Trudeau’s prime ministership, and the trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump had only just begun. Ottawa had struck back with retaliatory tariffs against the first volley of U.S. import duties. Two days later, Trudeau and his advisers gathered in his office for a phone call with the American president, according to two Canadian officials with knowledge of what happened, who agreed to speak about sensitive discussions on the condition they weren’t identified.

The Star one of the most reliable LPC typists is still peddling the Carney line that the Demon Lutnick kiboshed the trade deal.

“So when they say the Commerce Secretary Lutnick stepped in and everything got screwed up, that’s not true?”

Greer “That’s not true” @jamiesongreer https://t.co/eFD3HNdR6c

— cbcwatcher (@cbcwatcher) September 3, 2026

Decrepit.

If you wanted one word to describe the state of Venezuela’s oil industry, it would be decrepit.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Appeals from American tourism organizations seemed to be everywhere Josh Loewen looked over the last year. Billboards and banners proclaimed a state or city’s love for Canada. Online and social media ads offered special deals for travelers from north of the border.

As a Vancouver resident and marketing executive himself, Loewen said he understands the conciliatory overtures. The number of Canadians traveling to the United States plunged after President Donald Trump returned to office with remarks about making Canada the 51st state. An acrimonious trade war between the two countries now is threatening to reinforce the informal boycott just as it appeared to be easing slightly.

They forget to mention that Vegas is not the bargain it was. Not for Americans not for anyone.

Canadians are also crushed by taxes, that never helps.

A week before U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra is set to give remarks in Gander to mark the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Newfoundland town that became famous for its kindness on that day addressed growing community anger about his attendance.

“We understand why people feel strongly about this,” said a statement from the town released Friday afternoon. “We are proud Canadians, and we understand the frustration and disappointment many Canadians are feeling about the current state of the relationship between Canada and the United States.”

Donald Trump will go away someday. The millions of people who voted for him will still be there, as well as all the damage he’s wrought in Canada-U.S. relations.

That is the unsettling reality dawning on many of us in the two weeks since the collapse of the trade talks and the resulting stream of venom directed at Canada by Trump and his enablers.

The new normal looks awfully like the old normal at the Star – Fear mongering knee-jerk Anti-Americanism served up as patriotism.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump’s trade war with Canada would have a “negligible” effect on U.S. prices and compared the northern neighbor to a “little yippy dog.”

Asked by Laura Trump on Fox News how he saw the trade war with Canada playing out, Bessent reached for a canine comparison.

“I had a German shepherd and there was a dachshund that used to antagonize her at the playground, and it kind of reminds me of that,” Bessent said.

This is where Canada–U.S. relations are now.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent just compared Canada to a little “yippy” dog antagonizing a 110-pound German Shepherd.

His message is pretty clear: Washington believes Canada walked away from a favourable trade deal for…

— Shazi (@ShaziGoalie) September 6, 2026