President Trump on Monday called Canada “one of the worst countries in the entire world” amid rising tensions between the United States and its historically friendly northern neighbor.
Speaking in the Oval Office, the president accused Canada of treating the U.S. unfairly.
“The problem is, that they’ve treated the United States very unfairly. They have been one of the worst countries in the entire world,” Trump said.
The president contrasted Canada with other nations he says the U.S. has been able to work with.
“You know, we get along with China, we get along with people and we make good deals,” he said.
Trump went on to say that Canada has been a tough partner, pointing specifically to the treatment of American farmers.
“But Canada has been really very difficult to deal with, actually. They’ve charged our farmers 400 percent tariffs and more. And they take advantage of us,” the president added.
The president’s remarks came just before his ban on close to $1 billion in Canadian goods took effect on Tuesday, marking another strike in the ongoing trade war between Washington and Ottawa.
The ban covers Canadian dairy products, motor vehicles and a number of alcoholic beverages.
When Trump signed the executive orders banning the goods, he cited “discrimination” against their American equivalents.
Relations between the two countries have been unusually strained throughout Trump’s second term. The friction has extended beyond trade to include the president’s push to acquire the United States’ northern neighbor.
The relationship hit a breaking point in August, when trade negotiations between Washington and Ottawa collapsed. In the aftermath, the two countries slapped tariffs on each other’s goods.
On the Canadian side, Carney said earlier this month that his country had become overly reliant on “easy” economic ties to the U.S.
In a video posted to YouTube in early September, Carney reflected on decades of close economic ties between the two nations.
“The past 40 years has been a period of deeper economic integration with the United States,” Carney said.
He argued that the arrangement, while convenient, had left Canada too dependent on a single partner.
“Truth is, it was easy business, but it meant we relied too much on one economic partner. It’s clear that time is over,” Carney said.
