WASHINGTON, United States (US): US President Donald Trump is threatening Canada with 100 per cent tariffs to prevent closer economic cooperation between the northern neighbour of the US and China, reported German news agency dpa.
If Canada were to sign a deal with China, the country would immediately be subject to a 100 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods imported into the US, Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform on Saturday (Jan 24).
“If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken,” Trump wrote in his post.
Carney is the prime minister of a sovereign nation, and governors are the heads of state governments in the US.
Trump has said in the past that Canada should become the 51st state of the US, hence his use of the term governor to denigrate Carney’s role.
Carney recently travelled to Beijing and subsequently announced greater cooperation with China. Both sides agreed on concrete steps in trade.
The Canadian Government said that Ottawa had withdrawn some of its tariffs on Chinese electric cars.
In return, China agreed to remove trade barriers for Canadian agricultural products such as rapeseed. – BERNAMA-dpa
