Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday that his country had no intention of concluding a free trade agreement with China. He was responding to US President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor moves forward with a trade agreement with Beijing.
Carney said his recent deal with China simply reduced tariffs on a few sectors that have recently been hit with tariffs.
Trump claims otherwise, posting that “China is successfully and completely taking over the once great country of Canada. So sad to see this happening. I just hope they leave ice hockey alone! President DJT.”
The Prime Minister said that under the free trade agreement with the United States and Mexico, there were commitments not to enter into free trade agreements with non-market economies without prior notification.
“We have no intention of doing this with China or any other non-market economy,” Carney said. “What we have done with China is address some of the issues that have emerged over the last couple of years.”
In 2024, Canada is like the United States by imposing a 100% tariff on electric vehicles from Beijing and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. China responded by imposing import taxes of 100% on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood.
Breaking with the United States this month during a visit to China, Carney cut tariffs by 100% on Chinese electric cars in exchange for lower tariffs on those Canadian products.
Carney said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese exports of electric vehicles entering Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1 per cent, rising to about 70,000 over five years. He stressed there was no cap until 2024. He also said the initial cap on Chinese electric vehicle imports was about 3 per cent of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada each year and that in exchange, China should begin investing in the Canadian auto industry within three years.
Trump released a video Sunday in which the CEO of the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association warns that there will be no Canadian auto industry without U.S. access, while emphasizing that the Canadian market alone is too small to justify large-scale manufacturing from China.
“DON’T MISS. Canada is systematically destroying itself. The China deal is a disaster for them. It will go down as one of the worst deals, of any kind, in history. All their companies are moving to the United States. I want to see Canada SURVIVE AND THRIVE! President DJT,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump’s message Saturday said that if Carney “thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘port of depot’ for China to send goods and products to the United States, he is sorely mistaken.”
“We cannot let Canada become an opening for the Chinese to inject their cheap products into the United States,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on ABC’s “This Week.”
“We have a (US-Mexico-Canada) deal, but based on that, that’s going to be renegotiated this summer, and I’m not sure what Prime Minister Carney is doing here other than trying to virtue signal to his globalist friends in Davos.”
Trump’s threat came amid an escalating war of words with Carney as Republican chairman. push to acquire Greenland tense the NATO alliance.
Carney has become the leader of a movement to inspire countries to find ways to unite and counter the United States under Trump. Speaking in Davos before Trump, Carney said: “Middle powers need to act together because if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu” and he warned against coercion from great powers – without mentioning Trump by name. The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, overshadowing Trump at the World Economic Forum.
Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland come after he repeatedly criticized Canada over its sovereignty and suggested it also be absorbed by the United States. 51st state. He posted an edited image on social media this week showing a map of the United States including Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba on its territory.
