Trump threatens further tariff hikes after Canada retaliates

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced retaliatory tariffs on US goods, US President Donald Trump has warned Canada that he will escalate his trade dispute.

Trump’s 25-percent tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports came into effect on Tuesday, prompting Trudeau to appoint retaliatory tariffs on more than $100 billion of American goods. These tariffs will go into effect over the course of 21 days.

The US president responded on Truth Social, the social media platform he owns, by asking, “Please explain to Canadian Governor Trudeau that our reciprocal tariff will immediately increase by a like amount”!

Trump has called the Canadian prime minister the “governor” of Canada in recent weeks and called for the nation to become the nation’s 51st state.

Trudeau claimed on Tuesday that Trump’s “dumb” trade war was motivated by his desire to “see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that would make it easier to annex us.”

The leader of Canada stated, “That’s never going to happen. ” He may cause harm to the Canadian economy, but he will quickly discover that that will cause harm to people on both sides of the border, just like American families will discover.

Within “a few weeks,” Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, claimed the trade war would “hurt consumers, businesses, and the US economy.”

Through the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement and the World Trade Organization, Canada said it will contest the US measures.

Trudeau, who will step down as prime minister after the Liberal Party’s governing party chooses a replacement leader on Sunday, said, “Canadians are reasonable and we are polite, but we will not back down from a fight.”

If the US tariffs continue, Ontario’s premier Doug Ford announced that he would impose a 25% export tax on electricity sold to the US and may eventually sever it entirely. 1.5 million homes in Michigan, New York, and Minnesota were powered by Ontario in 2023.

No justification, really.

In addition, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum made a promise to respond to the Trump administration’s tariff increases, joining Canada and China, which were also hit by a 20%-adjusted increase on Tuesday.

She stated at a daily news conference in Mexico City that she would make the announcement that US products would be targeted by Mexico on Sunday. “There is no motive, reason, nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations,” she said.

Sheinbaum criticized a “fact sheet” from the White House published on Monday, which repeated the claim that there is “an intolerable relationship” between Mexico and the government, branding the claims as “offensive, defamatory, and without support.”

More than a tonne of the opioid fentanyl was recently sequestered by Mexico’s government, 329 methamphetamine labs were destroyed, and 29 drug cartel figures were extradited to the US last week.

Trump has also claimed that he is implementing measures to stop fentanyl trafficking into the US through its northern border, accusing Ottawa of not doing enough to stop the flow of the substance and its precursors. Trudeau called the claim “completely untrue, completely unjustified, and false” in response to the allegations.