OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday it was time to “teach Canada” a lesson, describing the country as one of the most difficult American trading partners and accusing it of taking advantage of the United States as though it were an American state.Trump made the remarks during an interview on The Glenn Beck Program, one day after Ottawa announced tariffs of up to 50% on $27.6 billion worth of American goods..“They are one of the worst countries in the world to deal with,” Trump said.“I love Canadians and Canada. I do not like their administration.”Trump said Canadian governments had taken advantage of the United States for decades through tariffs on American products.“They charge tariffs that are unbelievable, like on milk, 400%, and on lumber,” he said.“They’ve taken our car industry and they’ve taken our agriculture industry. The farmers can’t sell anything in there because the tariffs are so enormous, and yet they want to sell into us without any tariffs.”.Canada uses tariff-rate quotas to manage dairy imports. Predetermined quantities can enter under lower preferential rates, while imports exceeding those quotas face substantially higher duties.Canada’s 2026 tariff schedule imposes an over-quota rate of 241% on some milk and cream and 298.5% on butter — below Trump’s blanket claim of 400%.“They take advantage of us as though they were a state — and they’re not a state,” Trump said.Trump said the United States had tolerated Canada’s trade policies for too long.“It’s time to teach Canada you can’t do this anymore,” he said.Trump also claimed the United States could replace the Canadian products it imports.“They don’t have anything that we have to have,” he said. “There are a couple of things that would make it a little inconvenient, but we could get them elsewhere.”“We lose $60 billion, and really more than that, a year with Canada. We can’t do that.”“That’s a present,” Trump added. “I can’t do it.”Trump has repeatedly described the American trade deficit with Canada as money lost or a subsidy paid to Canada.Official U.S. figures do not support his claim when both goods and services are included.The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative reported that the United States had a US$48.3-billion goods deficit with Canada in 2025, while recording a US$27.7-billion surplus in services.That left the United States with an overall goods-and-services trade deficit of approximately US$20.6 billion, based on the agency’s figures.A trade deficit means one country buys more from another than it sells in return. It is not a direct payment or financial loss to the exporting country.Trump’s remarks came after Canada-U.S. negotiations collapsed late Friday.Prime Minister Mark Carney withdrew Canada’s negotiating team after saying Washington introduced last-minute terms that were “unfair, uneconomic” and called the reliability of any agreement into question.Carney said the American proposal offered insufficient tariff relief for Canadian autos, steel and other strategic industries while seeking concessions involving dairy, provincial alcohol restrictions, Canadian cultural policy and future trade agreements.The United States imposed 50% tariffs Saturday on $27.6 billion in Canadian goods.Ottawa responded Tuesday by announcing matching tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on an equivalent value of American imports, effective September 8.The Canadian countermeasures will target products in sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper and electronics.Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne also announced a $7.5-billion package of loans, liquidity programs, worker supports and business assistance.Trump has separately threatened to raise tariffs on all Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts and steel to 50% beginning January 1, 2027.He also returned during the interview to his threat to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” comparing it with his administration’s decision to call the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”“Now we have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said.Trump has also accused Carney of falsely claiming Washington sought to interfere with Canadians speaking French.Carney said American negotiators challenged French-language content and labelling protections, not that Trump had sought to prevent Canadians from speaking the language.
