The President of the United States Donald Trump has escalated its trade war against the Canadabanning imports of alcohol and various products and raising duties on others, with the trade conflict between the two ‘neighbors’ showing no signs of abating. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney he held firm, acknowledging that reducing economic ties with the United States would come at a cost, but arguing that the benefits would outweigh the consequences of new tariffs and limitations on economic transactions. Canada has “everything we need to reorient ourselves and prosper,” Carney said in a video message. “That breakthrough will have a cost. There is always a cost to action. But it doesn’t even come close to the cost of standing still.”
“I don’t believe in escalating conflict. It’s not constructive,” Carney said. “But our tariffs are necessary to protect our workers, our businesses and our communities. This is about who we are as Canadians.” Reacting to Trump’s move, the Canadian minister responsible for trade with the United States, Dominic LeBlancsaid Ottawa was “evaluating the latest tariff measures.” Negotiations between the two sides broke down on August 21 after days of meetings in Washington.
On that occasion, Carney said that US negotiators had introduced, at the last moment, restrictions on Canada’s trade agreements with other countries, as well as unacceptable “threats” to the French language and “Quebec culture”. Ottawa and Washington have not resumed talks since.
Adversity only makes us stronger. It always has.
Watch the new edition of Forward Guidance: https://t.co/75rhccwqIC pic.twitter.com/GGCzmb0k26
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) September 8, 2026
New duties and import ban
A range of Canadian products, from mattresses to motorboats and golf carts, will be subject to a 50% surtax starting September 15, according to the executive order signed by Trump at the White House. The import ban, which affects several alcoholic drinks plus a few dairy products like whey, will take effect Sept. 29, according to other executive orders issued at the same time.
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs went into effect yesterday, September 9, applying to C$27.6 billion (US$20 billion) of imports from the US, including steel and aluminum products and dairy goods such as cheese, in response to the tariffs announced by Washington on August 22.
Trump’s lunge
Responding to the latest Canadian tariffs, Trump vowed to block Canadian companies from winning U.S. government contracts. In a post on social media, the American president said he had instructed officials “to remove products of Canadian origin from the GSA’s Multiple Award Schedules”, referring to a General Services Administration program for long-term contracts. These are contracts worth over 50 billion dollars a year, according to the US administration.
Trump had threatened to try to block sales of Bombardier’s aviation division unless the company, based in Quebec, moved production to the United States. In response, the aerospace company noted the creation of tens of thousands of jobs in the United States, with direct employment in more than 20 states, including Kansas, Texas, Arizona and California.
The two Republican senators representing Kansas said they had expressed their concerns to the White House. “I will fight to keep Bombardier’s more than 1,200 jobs in Kansas. I have already raised this concern inside the Oval Office,” Senator Roger Marshall wrote in X, with similar comments posted by Senator Jerry Moran. US tariffs pose a moderately negative risk to the Canadian economy as a whole, but analysts say they have a more pronounced impact on central Canada’s manufacturing sector.
Trump’s new map
Earlier on Sunday, the US president published an illustration depicting him towering over Carney as they play ice hockey, with Trump saying “Stand up, governor”, a reference to his determination to turn Canada into another US state. Trump also signed an order in August to rename Lake Ontario, on the border with Canada, as “Lake America”, sparking fury in Canada as part of a broader wave of national pride triggered by the US president’s hostility.
Although Carney is supported by the Canadian public, his country remains dependent on its neighbor. Nearly 60 percent of Canada’s imports come from the United States, and about 70 percent of its exports go to the U.S. market. To help businesses and workers, the Canadian government unveiled a C$7.5 billion (US$5.4 billion) relief package.