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Trump Hits Out After Mark Carney Rejects US-Canada Trade Deal
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. President Donald Trump has hit out at Canada after Prime Minister Mark Carney rejected a proposed U.S.-Canada trade agreement and pledged dollar-for-dollar retaliation against new American tariffs.
In his first public comments since the negotiations collapsed, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, without being one.”
“They have also charged our great farmers, for many years, massive amounts of Tariffs. No more!!!” he added in the early morning post.
Carney said Trump’s new 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods was an economic “attack” on Canada and vowed retaliatory tariffs to take effect next month. Newsweek has contacted Global Affairs Canada and the White House for comment outside of office hours.
During his presidency, Trump has wielded the threat of tariffs, a tax on imported goods, in particular targeting Canada.
Trade talks between Ottawa and Washington broke down on Friday with Carney calling last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal."
Canada sends 72 percent of its goods exports to the U.S. and so tariffs will upend one of the world’s most entwined trading relationships.
Trade talks had been taking place since July, after Trump threatened to impose a 50 percent levy on nearly $20 billion of Canadian imports by 19 August. The president paused the tariffs last week saying that both sides were close to a deal.
But Carney said that though there had been progress in talks this was "not enough to meet our objectives for Canadians".
He added that he suspended trade negotiations and directed negotiators to return to Ottawa.
"Last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” Carney said.
The U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods came into effect on Saturday and will be applied on about 5 percent of exports, including wine, dairy, cement, clothing and hockey equipment. Carney said Ottawa will impose dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs from September 8.
Trump did not mention Carney in his post nor explain why talks had broken down but the spat highlights the latest tension between the countries.
Trump has floated the idea of Canada becoming part of the U.S., an idea he returned to last September when he told military officials that it could become the 51 st state which could be part of the Golden Dome missile defense system.
During a meeting with the president, Carney told Trump that Canada was “not for sale” and “won’t be for sale ever” to which Trump replied, “Never say never.”
Trump repeated the rhetoric in June 2026 when he shared an article about Canada’s economy with the message “51st State!” prompting Ontario Premier Doug Ford to reject such a proposal, saying “we’ll never be a 51st state. Canada is not for sale.”
Trump's reference to American farmers appears to relate to his long-running criticism of Canadian tariffs on certain agricultural products, particularly dairy, poultry and egg imports.
The issue has been a recurring point of contention in U.S.-Canada trade relations. Canada operates a supply-management system for dairy, poultry and eggs that restricts imports through quotas and imposes steep tariffs on some products that exceed those limits. Trump frequently criticized the system during negotiations over the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), contending that it unfairly limited access for U.S. farmers to the Canadian market.
The Trump administration says the new taxes will be levied on products ranging from hockey sticks to wine and cement but also honey, seeds and agricultural products.
The 50 percent levy also applies to some products that had been protected under USMCA, raising questions about that trade deal's future.
The USMCA, which took effect in 2020 and replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), remains in force. However, its future has come under increased scrutiny after the U.S. declined to renew the pact for another 16-year term during the agreement's 2026 joint review process. Under the deal's rules, the three countries will now conduct annual reviews until 2036 unless one of the parties formally withdraws.
Update, 08/23/2026, 6:45 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Robert Greenall
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