Carney pushes back against US trade demands

TORONTO (AP):

President Donald Trump told Canadian leaders yesterday to “fall in line” or face consequences that would be “far WORSE” than the tariffs he has already imposed as Prime Minister Mark Carney accused Washington of trying to subordinate Canada.

Trump’s warning on social media came as he threatened new 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel amid escalating tensions between the two countries.

Carney said US trade demands had confirmed Canada’s fears that Washington was seeking to dismantle its auto industry. Nonetheless, he said his country remained willing to negotiate, but only if the United States approached the talks as a partnership between sovereign countries.

“An attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a subsidiary of the United States” is “not something we’re going to accept,” Carney said.

The fiery words from both sides show how relations between the US and Canada have only deteriorated since Carney walked away from trade negotiations with the Trump administration late Friday, triggering the president’s threatened 50 per cent tariffs the next day on about US$20 billion worth of Canadian goods. In response, Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation beginning September 8.

Yesterday, Trump came back with even more tariffs, warning that he would impose them on Canada’s auto industry beginning next year.

“Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years,” Trump wrote on social media, criticising what he called Canada’s “ridiculously high tariffs” on American farmers.

Carney said Washington’s auto-sector proposals would gradually have the effect of dismantling Canadian production.

“This is the most successful automotive partnership in history,” Carney said, referring to the deeply integrated Canada-US. industry.

‘We’re all in’

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford unleashed his own tirade on Trump. He said Trump had underestimated Canadians’ willingness to endure economic pain rather than give in to US pressure.

“We’re all in,” Ford said. “Up here, we’re at a fever pitch, everyone’s in for an economic war. They know they’re going to have to sacrifice.”

Trump responded in a social media post by attacking Ford personally, calling him “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford,” and once again referring to Canada’s prime minister as “Governor Carney.”

Ford is a Progressive Conservative whose party is different than that of Carney, a Liberal, but the two underscore the broad political unity in Canada over the trade fight with Trump.

Ford said “everything is on the table” if the dispute worsens, including cutting off electricity and critical minerals from Ontario.

Critical minerals are increasingly important to US national security and manufacturing. The Pentagon has sought more secure supplies of minerals used in military aircraft, missiles, munitions and electronics as Washington tries to reduce reliance on China, which dominates the mining or processing of several strategically important minerals.

Ford said Canada should also consider increasingly severe retaliation if Trump continues targeting Canadian industries, including oil and potash, while Ontario could raise electricity prices or stop sending power south.

“We power 1.5 million homes and businesses,” Ford said. “Everything’s on the table. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

Ford has used electricity as leverage before. During an earlier phase of the dispute, Ontario imposed a 25 per cent surcharge on electricity exported to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. Trump responded by threatening to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium before both sides backed away.