USA

After huddling with Prime Minister Mark Carney and the other premiers, Doug Ford is expressing concern President Donald Trump will escalate his trade war against Canada.

Ford warned the potential renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) could be even more economically debilitating than the current tariff crisis.

“Fasten our seatbelt. CUSMA, or USMCA, whatever you want to call it, he’s coming at us hard. He is going to come at us with everything he has and we have to make sure that we’re ready,” he told reporters at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.

When Ontario’s unemployment rate is worse than provinces in Atlantic Canada, that is a real issue.
Ontario is well above the national average and not performing well. https://t.co/LlFBue8FmZ

— Brian Lilley (@brianlilley) August 5, 2025

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested Tuesday he is considering substituting or rescinding the Online News Act to ensure local news is disseminated wider and faster two years after Meta banned access to news on its platforms.

Carney made the unexpected suggestion while announcing over $1 billion in loan guaranteed and long-term supports for the softwood lumber industry at a mill in West Kelowna, B.C.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Tuesday that Canadian investment in the United States — already among the highest in the world — could decline if trade relations deteriorate and a new economic and security pact is not secured.

“Canada is the second-largest investor in the United States today in the world. We have 40 million people,” Carney said while speaking to reporters in British Columbia.

Prime Minister Mark Carney showed no signs of retaliating against U.S. President Donald Trump’s increased tariffs — and even suggested he’s open to removing existing tariffs if it would help Canadian industries.

Carney faced questions Tuesday about Canada’s next steps after the two countries failed to reach a trade deal by the Aug. 1 deadline, resulting in a 35 per cent import tax on some Canadian goods. The rate applies to goods not covered by the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, which governs trade between the three countries.

The Great Negotiator at work.

Where do things stand for Canada after the United States imposed a new, higher tariff last Thursday evening?

In the short run, not much has changed. In the long run, a lot may yet change.

Since the signing of the landmark Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement in 1988, the relationship has been about ever-lower trade barriers and ever-easier movement of goods and services across the border. It was part of a global trend. Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. is reversing course, hard and fast.

Since Aug. 1, many Canadian commentators have downplayed the impact of the 35% tariffs the United States has imposed on select Canadian goods, citing the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and its oft-repeated claim that 90% to 93% of Canadian exports remain exempt.

While technically true, this statistic masks the much more complicated — and far less reassuring —reality for Canada’s agri-food sector.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s post-midnight response to Washington’s latest escalation of its tariff war was calm, measured, sensible and appropriate, everything the current regime in Washington is not.

Canada, Carney said, will continue to negotiate in search of a reasonable agreement, notwithstanding the absence of any indication the U.S. is open to reasonable negotiations. What Washington wants is to continue operating what amounts to a global extortion racket, threatening all America’s best customers with dire consequences if they refuse to bow to its demands and offer up supplication to whatever notion occurs to President Donald Trump at any given moment.

Is supporting Carney any better? I doubt it.