Canada rejects US terms for trade deal as 50 percent tariffs take effect
The Hill · C · trust 35/100
Comments: by Sarah Davis - 08/22/26 8:09 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Sarah Davis - 08/22/26 8:09 AM ET Comments: Link copied NOW PLAYING Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pulled his country’s negotiators from trade talks with the U.S. on Friday evening, just hours before the Trump administration’s new round of tariffs were set to go into effect.
This decision followed weeks of intense negotiations between the two nations over President Trump’s proposed 50 percent tariffs on over $20 billion worth of Canadian goods.
These new tariffs — which were originally scheduled to go into effect on Wednesday — would impact a range of goods, including wine, hockey sticks, cement, plywood and more. The prime minister has said these new policies are in “ direct violation ” of the free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Carney vowed to “match those tariffs dollar for dollar” in a statement released Friday evening on social media . He added that Canada’s government will present “additional measures” to support workers and business owners in the country in the coming days.
While the prime minister noted Canadian negotiators made “significant progress” in recent weeks, he said this had “not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians.”
“As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” he said in his statement.
“They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute,” Carney continued. “However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer slammed Canada over its decision to walk away from these discussions in a statement shared on his official social media page .
“Despite the U.S. offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days,” Greer wrote, calling this a “missed opportunity” for a partnership between the two nations.
Canada and the U.S. have historically enjoyed a close relationship, but the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to broker new trade agreements that favor the U.S. have placed these ties to the test.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that the U.S. cede its northern neighbor as a “51st state” and addressed Carney as the “future governor of Canada.”
Carney wrote that Canada’s negotiators in these tariff discussions have “worked in that context.”
“We have recognized from the beginning that America has changed, and that we will not return to our old relationship,” Carney continued. “Our government understood, before many, that America is altering all its trade relationships. Putting tariffs on its closest allies and charging access for its vast market.”
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