USA

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Monday he’s ready to start a trade war with President Trump if the US leader moves forward with 25% tariffs on products from the northern nation at midnight.

Trudeau called America’s impending action against Canada “unjustified” and vowed to not let it go “unanswered.”

“Should American tariffs come into effect tonight, Canada will, effective 12:01 a.m. EST tomorrow, respond with 25 per cent tariffs against $155 billion of American goods – starting with tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods immediately, and tariffs on the remaining $125 billion on American products in 21 days’ time,” he said in a statement.

A month ago, I called for the government to immediately take actions before tariffs hit to make Canada less dependent on the U.S.

Liberals have done exactly nothing since then. And now, the tariffs hit—and they’ve left us helpless. pic.twitter.com/OfZG5HEHwM

— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) March 4, 2025

The tariffs U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose on Canada tomorrow are clearly an economic danger, but are they also an existential threat?

Trump in recent weeks has repeatedly suggested Canada should become the 51st state and threatened to use “economic force” to join the two countries together.

According to a poll out today, Canadians are taking the threat seriously.

Newly re-elected Premier Doug Ford doubled down Monday on his threat to cut off electricity flowing from Ontario to several American states if the U.S. moves ahead with tariffs.

“If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do anything — including cutting off their energy — with a smile on my face,” Ford said during his first news conference since winning a third majority last week. Ontario is a major electricity exporter to New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

“They need to feel the pain. They want to come at us? We’ve got to go back twice as hard,” Ford continued.

h/t OntarioJohn and Mauser

There is the theory that President Trump is still bitter about his Canadian hotel ventures that went bust.

Some, on social media, have speculated that a 2019 photograph in which Justin Trudeau appeared poised to kiss Melania Trump, the first lady, at a Group of 7 gathering in France, left Mr. Trump with a grudge against the dashing Canadian prime minister.

And then there is the transactional view, that Mr. Trump sees the acquisition of Canada as the 51st state as the ultimate real estate deal that would seal his presidential legacy.

U.S. President Donald Trump says 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs, with a lower 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy, will start Tuesday.

Trump: For 40 years, the U.S. was exploited. Those who stole our money, jobs, and factories are now paying the price—through tariffs. pic.twitter.com/qQe144S4RO

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 3, 2025

I blame Trudeau. He has provoked Trump and gullible Canadians believed he was acting as a “patriot” when in fact he hoped to bolster LPC fortunes.

U.S. President Donald Trump has a talent for stirring the pot, and he’s done so in two countries with repeated suggestions that Canada should become the 51st American state. Of course, making Canada one state is hardly fair — each province should get its own star on the flag if we’re going to move in that direction. But there’s no good reason to go down that path at all, given most Canadians’ rejection of the idea, and the havoc it would play with the fraught political balance in the United States. Besides, it’s likely that both Canada and the U.S are too big and too centralized as it is.

As Donald Trump has raged, Canada has reacted.

In December, the federal government pledged an additional $1.3-billion to combat fentanyl trafficking, with increased border security measures that include drones, Black Hawk helicopters and mobile surveillance towers.

In February, Ottawa appointed its first ever “fentanyl czar,” longtime senior Mountie Kevin Brosseau, to oversee our fight against the deadly synthetic opioid.

If so he’s done something that will make junior’s Beijing bosses happy.

They must need mops to clean up the mouth froth from the floor at the Star.

The head of the Canada Border Services Agency says it’s not clear what more Canada could offer to the United States to once again avoid the imposition of punishing tariffs on Tuesday, even as a senior U.S. Cabinet member said Sunday that Canada has “done a reasonable job” of securing the border.

Canadian authorities have pledged a series of measures in response to criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump about the cross-border movement of fentanyl and migrants into the U.S. Ottawa said it will spend $1.3-billion over six years on a border plan that includes more dogs, scanners, drones and helicopters. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed former RCMP deputy commissioner Kevin Brosseau to the newly created post of fentanyl czar last month.

DETROIT (AP) — At the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, a quote from former President Ronald Reagan is engraved on one wall.

“Let the 5,000-mile border between Canada and the United States stand as a symbol for the future,” Reagan said upon signing a 1988 free trade pact with America’s northern neighbor. “Let it forever be not a point of division but a meeting place between our great and true friends.”

But a point of division is here. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump plans to impose a 25% tariff on most imported Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on Canadian oil and gas. Mexico is also facing a 25% tariff.

WASHINGTON — Canadians are feeling a foreboding sense of déjà vu as the country waits to see whether U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of economy-wide tariffs ultimately materialize on Tuesday, tipping North America into a trade war.

“Canada has to prepare for a world where it can’t rely on the United States for stability in its trading relationships or in its security relationships,” said Matthew Lebo, a specialist in U.S. politics at Western University in London, Ont.

Despite a month-long diplomatic push in Washington and boosted border enforcement, Canadians remain uncertain whether Trump will slap America’s closest neighbours with devastating duties.