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🇦🇺 Australia /Economy & Trade

The US-Canada ‘divorce’ and the $1.2 trillion fallout

From ABC Australia · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Ongoing story
  • The United States and Canada conduct more than $1.2 trillion in annual business, but negotiators say tensions have reached an unprecedented level.
  • Canada faces tariffs on steel, lumber and automobiles, while President Donald Trump has threatened steeper measures next year.
  • The dispute has intensified after trade talks ended, with officials on both sides exchanging personal attacks and Canadians weighing economic sacrifice to resist a one-sided deal.

The United States and Canada do more than $1.2 trillion in business each year, yet negotiators on both sides of the border say the relationship has rarely felt this cold.

I do think this is a high watermark in terms of some of the tensions between the United States and Canada.

· Kelly Ann ShawShaw assessed the severity of the current bilateral tensions.

The latest rupture came after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney ended comprehensive trade negotiations with Washington. Canada already faces US tariffs on key exports including steel, lumber and automobiles. US President Donald Trump is threatening even higher tariffs from next year, leaving Canadians to prepare for potentially severe economic consequences.

Kelly Ann Shaw, a trade consultant who served as deputy assistant for international economic affairs during Trump’s first administration, said the current tensions represented a high point. She added that Canadians appeared to feel the confrontation more sharply than Americans.

Canada would very much like to have a deal with the United States, but a deal, not a rollover, not an attempt to take over the country.

· Kory TeneyckeTeneycke rejected what he described as an unbalanced proposed trade agreement.

Kory Teneycke, a former communications director for Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, said a proposed agreement involving vehicle tariffs and a US say over Canada’s trade deals with other countries was unacceptable. “Canada would very much like to have a deal with the United States, but a deal, not a rollover, not an attempt to take over the country,” he told 7.30. He called a one-sided arrangement “extortion.”

That isn’t a deal, that’s extortion.

· Kory TeneyckeTeneycke criticized the proposed terms involving the Canadian auto sector and US vehicle tariffs.

The rhetoric has since become more hostile. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro called earlier Canadian negotiators “backstabbing, double-dealing people that you really couldn’t trust,” while Ontario Premier Doug Ford compared Trump to a school bully. Trump then signed an order changing the US name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, prompting Teneycke to say the gesture was “worthy of an internet troll, not a president of the United States.”

The president’s renaming Lake Ontario, Lake America … [is] worthy of an internet troll, not a president of the United States.

· Kory TeneyckeTeneycke condemned Trump’s order to rename the lake in the United States.
About this summary

Originally published by ABC Australia in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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