Canada's Leader Says U.S. Must Stop Insults Before Trade Talks Can Restart

Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that officials in the Trump administration need to stop insulting Canada before the two countries can restart trade talks. He was speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Canada's capital. His comments came just one week before Canada is set to place extra taxes, called tariffs, on $20 billion worth of goods imported from the United States. The tension between the two neighboring countries has been growing for weeks.

Carney was also reacting to comments made by U.S. officials on Monday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Canada was not strong enough to fight back against American tariffs. He also disagreed with Carney's claim that the two countries are 'at war.' Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made fun of a photo of two female Canadian military cadets by posting about it on social media. Carney said these kinds of posts were 'beneath their office,' meaning they were too disrespectful for people in such important jobs.

Carney also had some good news on Monday. His Liberal Party won three special elections held that day in the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario, and British Columbia. The Ontario and British Columbia wins were expected, since Liberals already held those seats. But the Quebec win was a surprise — that seat had belonged to the Conservative Party, and the race was close between three different parties. Carney said the wins showed that Canadians support his plan for handling the trade dispute with the United States.

Canada has been running polls to measure how citizens feel about the trade fight. One poll by Ipsos Canada found that 73 percent of people supported Carney's plan to match American tariffs 'dollar for dollar' as of September 8. That is an unusually high level of support for any political decision in Canada. Experts who study elections said the special election results also showed strong national support for Carney's approach.

However, Carney's tough stance comes with real risks. Most economists — experts who study money and trade — say Canada's economy is too small for its tariffs to have a big effect on the United States. After Carney promised to fight back, President Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian-made cars to 50 percent starting in January. He also threatened to add tariffs to car parts that are currently not taxed, which could hurt many Canadian workers and businesses.

Canadian shoppers will likely start paying higher prices for some products because of Canada's own tariffs on American goods. At the same time, Canadian companies that sell products to the U.S. are already losing money because of American tariffs on their goods. To help reduce Canada's reliance on the United States, Carney plans to speak to the European Parliament later this month. He is trying to build stronger trade relationships with other countries around the world.

Last week, tensions got even worse when Trump signed an order to rename Lake Ontario as 'Lake America' and called Canadian officials 'nasty.' Canadians widely mocked and criticized both moves. Some polling experts now say that if things keep getting worse, more Canadians may be willing to move away from the close relationship with the United States entirely. Even so, experts note that a complete break between the two countries would be very hard and costly for Canada.