Editorial: Trump's treatment of Canada is shameful

The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune on Aug 26, 2026

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Memo to President Donald Trump: Canada is our friend.

A round of recent trade talks, necessitated in the first place by a series of American tariffs on our neighbor to the north early in Trump’s second term, collapsed late last week and now the U.S. is embroiled in the most foolish of trade wars with Canada. The Trump administration reacted by allowing 50% tariffs on billions of Canadian goods to take effect this weekend. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney declared the same day that Canada would match the Trump administration’s levies “dollar for dollar.”

Carney effectively labeled the U.S. as an enemy of Canada. “You’re at war when you get attacked,” he said. “We got attacked.”

Think of that. Canada has been a staunch ally of the U.S. for more than two centuries. The last time the two nations were openly hostile was during the War of 1812, and Canada at that time wasn’t yet even its own country separate from Great Britain.

Trump responded Monday to Carney’s reaction in typical fashion, by threatening to double existing tariffs on Canadian steel, automobiles and auto parts, effective Jan. 1. The relatively long lead time at least gives both nations some time to work out a face-saving fallback.

Carney, a former investment banker and central banker, has proven himself a tough adversary, especially given the bizarre nature of what he’s faced. Trump since returning to office has repeatedly lobbed juvenile insults at Canada, referring to the proud sovereign nation as the 51st state of the U.S. Various tariff declarations have emanated from Washington, seemingly at a whim.

Carney, meanwhile, has been calm and determined. And he has made clear that the zero-sum approach Trump takes to the rest of the world, where win-win deals are anathema and the only accords acceptable to him are ones in which the U.S. gains and the other party loses, won’t play in his country.

It’s an admirable stance but one that comes with risks. The U.S. economy is more than 10 times the size of Canada’s; a full-blown trade war no doubt will hurt more in Canada than it will here.

But hurt here it will, damaging sectors on both sides of the border, particularly the auto industry, which relies on supply chains integrated throughout North America. Automakers forged those arrangements under rules negotiated by Trump himself in 2020 with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

New cars already are so expensive that an embarrassingly large swath of American consumers can’t afford one. This folly only will make that situation worse.

Still, the economic particulars underpinning this needless antagonism essentially are beside the point. Trump’s dealings with Carney and Canada are not how one relates to a friend.

And that’s what Canada is. A friend. Its soldiers have fought and died by our soldiers, from the beaches of Normandy to the rugged terrain of Afghanistan.

We can only hope that, as true lifelong friends often do after a break in their relationship, Canada will be open to extending its hand to us again after this sorry chapter is done.

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