“Canada – USA Tariff Wars”

Between October 24 and 29, 2025, Abacus Data surveyed 2,922 Canadian adults about the current political climate. The findings suggest a political environment that remains remarkably stable despite several flashpoints, including Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal from trade talks with Canada and Pierre Poilievre’s controversial remarks about the RCMP’s handling of Liberal-linked investigations.

With the federal budget set to be tabled on November 4, and the U.S.–Canada relationship under deeper strain, Canadians appear attentive, divided, and bracing for uncertainty, but not yet shifting decisively in any political direction.

For Travis McMaster, the general manager of Cocoon USA, an outdoor and travel brand, ordering products from his foreign suppliers this year has been a lot like gambling.

After reading the news of a trade truce between the United States and China last week, Mr. McMaster was relieved to have finally gotten a win. He estimated that President Trump’s decision to lower tariffs on Chinese products would save him roughly $30,000 in tariff costs on a shipment the company has coming in from China this week — enough to perhaps hire another seasonal employee in the small Washington town where Cocoon is based.

Mark Carney is trying to flex in the Doug Ford-Donald Trump ad controversy but instead of looking strong, he’s looking weak. Now, in addition to saying he apologized to Trump over the ad, he’s also saying he saw the ad and told Ford not to run it but didn’t do anything to stop the premier.

The emerging facts about the imbroglio between the Carney government and the Trump administration over tariffs and related issues are a distressing revelation of how not to conduct such very important negotiations. The Canadian government’s version of events was that President Trump had suspended discussions abruptly and angrily over an advertisement taken by the government of Ontario in which the late Republican President Ronald Reagan attacked tariffs in general. It was presented by Mark Carney’s government as illustrative, although the public was allowed to reach this conclusion for itself, of the churlish nature of the U.S. president and an absurd overreaction to a minor pinprick from a Canadian provincial premier (Doug Ford). The implication was that our sober and seasoned new prime minister would, if the roles were reversed, effortlessly rise above a minor barb from, let us say the governor of Tennessee or of Pennsylvania. President Trump’s initial reaction was good-natured and it was only 24 hours later that the Reagan ad was informally cited as the reason for suspending negotiations.

Let’s recap.

Everything at the border is Canada’s fault. We’re not a real country and should just become the 51st state. Our economy will exist only to the extent that Donald Trump sweeps unwanted crumbs off his royal banquet table.

If we find any of that obnoxious or insulting or just absurd given that the U.S. looks like it’s about six months away from sinking into the sea under the weight of its own dysfunction, well, we’re just being rude.

In truth Canada is a Banana Republic where out of greed and callous disregard for citizens the corporate class conspired with the Liberal Party to trash the social contract and flood our nation with incompatible cultures each hoping to realize ill-gotten gains at our expense.

And boy did they succeed. Canada is a balkanized mess where the propagandized “Elbow People” perform a Stockholm Syndrome pantomime of patriotism.

But it’s easier to blame Trump than confront the elites who authored our decline.

So is Canada a real country? Not any longer.

Now if you’ll excuse me the Two Minute Hate is about to start.

A top economic adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned Canada’s broadcasting rules requiring Canadian content as a current irritant in trade negotiations.

U.S. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett spoke with CNN on Oct. 31 and was asked if Canada moving closer to China on trade will benefit the United States.

“What is good for the United States is getting Canada to start to adhere to their previous agreements and to follow the rule of law and to stop punishing American companies the way they’ve been,” Hassett said.

Ontario’s Ronald Reagan ad campaign enraged a mercurial American President and torpedoed trade negotiations between Canada and the U.S.

But just across the river from Windsor, Ont., in Detroit, not everyone has noticed the 60-second TV ad that has chilled diplomatic relations with Canadian neighbours they’ve always considered family.

Pausing his bike ride to take a selfie with Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino in the background, Mike Johnson said he hasn’t seen the clip.

GYEONGJU — Prime Minister Mark Carney says he told Ontario Premier Doug Ford that he didn’t think the province should run the ad campaign that’s being blamed for ending trade talks with the U.S.

When asked on Saturday what Ford’s response to that was, Carney said, “Well, you saw what came of it.”

The prime minister also confirmed he did apologize to U.S. President Donald Trump because Trump was “offended” by the ad.

BOOM Mark Carney DID apologize to President Trump over the anti Tariff ad. So many people said President Trump was lying, maybe they should apologize too pic.twitter.com/j81RQYid9H

— Melissa (@MelissaLMRogers) November 1, 2025

Up to 130 jobs will be lost as furniture manufacturer Holsag Canada will shutter its facility in Lindsay, Ont., in March 2026.

Parent company Mity Inc., based in Orem, Utah, announced earlier this month that the operations in the heart of Kawartha Lakes will be consolidated with its U.S. facilities.

Mity CEO Kevin McCoy says the move comes after a comprehensive review of the company’s global operations and reflects “macroeconomic and operational realities.”

The courts said no, three times in a row.

In May, the Court of International Trade (CIT) ruled Donald Trump had no authority to impose 10-per-cent tariffs on global imports and no authority, in citing trade imbalances and fentanyl trafficking, to impose even higher rates on Canada. The Trump administration had claimed such authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The latest spat between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump gives the impression that North America is being run by schoolchildren.

Trump often strikes me as an older, more powerful version of my kids. Like them, he has a habit of making things up and confidently stating them as fact; he’s prone to emotional outbursts whenever he doesn’t get his way; and he thinks he’s the best at just about everything.

Confidential government deals worth billions of dollars to help fund a Stellantis-backed electric vehicle battery plant in Windsor, Ont., carry dozens of conditions that, if violated, give federal officials the power to end the agreements and even force repayment in some cases, according to copies obtained by CBC Windsor.

It is unclear, however, if the contracts contain guarantees related to the company’s broader footprint in Canada, as elected officials have claimed. Some portions of the documents are redacted, so the full terms of the agreements are unknown.

Stellantis exec sidesteps questions on whether gov’t deals included jobs guarantees

A Stellantis executive was grilled by MPs Wednesday over whether blockbuster subsidy deals reached with the federal government in recent years included guarantees to maintain Canadian auto jobs — as government officials have repeatedly said.

Speaking to a House of Commons committee, the former president for Stellantis Canada, Jeff Hines, sought to underscore the company’s commitment to the Canadian auto sector, but would not directly address whether protections for existing positions had been inked in past deals.