Trump Gives Mexico a Reprieve but Slams Canada With Higher Tariffs

The imbalance in President Trump’s treatment of America’s closest trading partners may come from his desire to make Canada the 51st state, some Canadians believe.

As President Trump rolled out his latest round of tariffs on Thursday, he fell again into what has become a familiar, if surprising, pattern — favoring Mexico and stiffing Canada.

Even as he announced sweeping tariffs for much of the world, Mr. Trump offered Mexico a 90-day reprieve, pending further negotiations. Then for Canada, America’s largest export market, he raised general tariffs to 35 percent from 25 percent.

Even worse for Canada, its new rate went into effect shortly after midnight, while new tariffs against other nations will take effect in a week.

The reasons for the imbalance in the president’s treatment of America’s two closest trading partners were not immediately apparent. But many Canadians believe that it is part of Mr. Trump’s campaign to force Canada’s annexation as the 51st state through economic chaos.

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada said in a statement on Friday that his government would continue negotiations with the United States while remaining “laser focused on what we can control: building Canada strong.”

He added: “Canadians will be our own best customer.”

But the president’s decision to go ahead with higher tariffs on Canada is a blow to the Canadian leader, a political neophyte who was elected to office for the first time just over three months ago.

In June, when Mr. Carney hosted the meeting of leaders of industrialized nations known as the Group of 7, he announced that a trade deal would be reached with Mr. Trump by July 21. And not just any deal. Mr. Carney said that his objective was to eliminate all U.S. tariffs against Canada and return to the free-trade system created by the United States, Mexico and Canada in an agreement Mr. Trump signed during his first term as president.

Mr. Carney’s goal never materialized. On July 10, Mr. Trump upended that plan by announcing his intention to impose the 35 percent tariff that will begin on Friday, effectively resetting the timetable for negotiations.

The 35 percent will cover a large swath of Canadian exports to the United States, but not some of the most valuable of them. Mr. Carney’s main objective with negotiations was to eliminate the 25 percent tariff on automobiles made in Canada, which went into effect in April.

The auto industry is a critical component of Canada’s economy. The 25 percent tariff, which remained in the plan announced on Thursday, could be crippling.

Steel and aluminum, of which Canada is the largest foreign supplier to the United States, have 50 percent tariffs.

Over the past two and a half weeks, Mr. Carney’s trade swagger disappeared. He began suggesting that a deal may not be possible and that Canada would not sign a pact that harmed Canadian exporters simply for the sake of reaching a deal.

Mr. Trump’s repeated dismissal of Canada’s sovereignty and viability as a nation continues to enrage many Canadians and has prompted a resurgence of patriotism in a nation that historically was shy about flag-waving.

By contrast, Mr. Trump has not threatened to annex Mexico and has repeatedly extended trade talks with it, acknowledging Mexico’s help on issues like migration.

Many in Canada attributed Mr. Trump’s early dismissal of Canada to the apparent ill will between him and Justin Trudeau, who was prime minister at the start of the U.S. president’s second term.

Most political analysts believe that Mr. Carney won election in April largely because many Canadians hoped that his background as the former central banker of both Canada and Britain, as well as his history in high-level private sector finance, made him the best leader to deal with Mr. Trump in trade talks.

At first, relations between the two countries’ leaders improved. Mr. Trump never referred to Mr. Carney as “governor” the way he had Mr. Trudeau. Nor did he publicly disparage the new Canadian leader.

His only significant criticism of Mr. Carney’s policies came on Wednesday after the prime minister said that Canada would recognize Palestinian statehood in September. Mr. Trump wrote on social media that the decision would “make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them.” But it was apparent from Mr. Carney’s remarks that negotiations had foundered long before then.

Equally baffling to Canadians was Mr. Trump’s reason for Friday’s increased tariff. He revived a claim that he first made in January of a “public health crisis caused by fentanyl and illicit drugs flowing across the northern border into the United States” as well as his assertion that Canada had failed to do anything about it.

Mr. Trump’s claim of widespread drug smuggling from Canada was refuted almost as soon as he first suggested it. In 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents intercepted about 19 kilograms of fentanyl at the northern border, compared with almost 9,600 kilograms at the border with Mexico.

Despite those statistics, Mr. Trudeau’s government and several provincial governments ramped up border protection. Drones, canine units and new helicopters along with increased police patrols soon swarmed the border, and Canada appointed a “fentanyl czar.” It was not enough to satisfy Mr. Trump.

Before Thursday, Mr. Carney said that Canada’s negotiators would remain in Washington even without a deal. Mr. Trump told NBC News on Thursday that he was open to further talks with Canada and added that he might speak with Mr. Carney later that night.

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