His warning was stark: "If they do that, if I think it's at all a hostile act, I will put very serious tariffs or stop trading with Europe on many things." He added, "If Europe does that with a bad intention - if it's a good intention, that's fine - if it's a bad intention, we'll put very heavy tariffs on Europe." He also brushed off the idea with, "I think it's laughable," and said, "Canada has been a terrible trade partner." Over the weekend he still sounded upbeat about an eventual resolution with Ottawa, saying he saw a deal coming "fairly soon," while giving no details on restarting formal talks. It is unclear what legal authority he would use for the new penalties he threatened.
Von der Leyen proposed making Canada the EU's first "associate member" and said she wants to work with Carney on the concept. She rolled out the invitation in Strasbourg with the Canadian leader in the room. What this status would actually involve is not defined, and any negotiation could take years.
Trump's remarks land in the middle of an active trade dispute between two tightly linked economies. Following last month's collapse in negotiations, he slapped a 50% duty on $20 billion in Canadian goods, and Carney responded with nearly equivalent tariffs on US products. On Wednesday, Trump followed through on an earlier warning by restricting Canadian goods from federal government purchases.
Ottawa, for its part, has been pursuing a multi-year pivot to deepen ties beyond the US, including with Europe, aiming to push more trade east and west rather than mostly south. The move toward Europe could provoke US pushback, and Carney has said Washington sought greater input over Ottawa's trade agreements with other economies.
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