The White House issued a statement after Canada announced its countertariffs, saying the United States was prepared to offer Canada “the most preferential market access of any country on Earth” in recent trade talks. “Instead of partnering, Canada opted for unreasonable demands, withdrawals and outright rejection,” he said. In a series of posts Tuesday on Truth Social, Trump also accused Canada of “ripping off” the United States for decades and imposing high tariffs on American farmers. “I deal with many countries, and Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable,” Trump wrote. “They feel they have rights, but they are not a State, and they will no longer have rights!” He suggested he will rename Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes on the U.S.-Canada border, to Lake America, writing, “We no longer expect to do much business with Ontario.” Trump threatened this week to increase US tariffs on Canadian cars to 50% starting January 1. Prime Minister Mark Carney responded by accusing Trump of wanting to “destroy” Canadian industries, including the auto manufacturing and steel and aluminum sectors. Public rhetoric from both sides reached a fever pitch on Monday, but some officials took a more diplomatic tone on Tuesday in hopes that talks could resume. After calling Trump a “loser” at a news conference Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford acknowledged in an interview with CNN that “things got a little heated.” “But I want to get a deal, a good deal for the American people, a good deal for Canadians,” Ford said. The escalation also calls into question the future of a North American free trade pact between Canada, the United States and Mexico called the USMCA. President Claudia Sheinbaum had sent her Economy Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, to Washington for emergency talks after the collapse of trade negotiations with Canada.
