(LifeSiteNews) — U.S. President Donald Trump, citing unsubstantiated claims that Canada is allowing massive amounts of drugs to pour over its borders, said he will hit Canada with a blanket 35 percent tariff on all Canadian exports starting August 1.
“As you will recall, the United States imposed Tariffs on Canada to deal with our Nation’s Fentanyl crisis, which is caused, in part, by Canada’s failure to stop the drugs from pouring into our Country,” Trump wrote in a letter addressed to Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, which he posted to his Truth Social site Thursday.
“Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs. Starting August 1, 2025, we will charge Canada a Tariff of 35% on Canadian products sent into the United States, separate from all Sectoral Tariffs.”
Carney, in a statement posted on his X account Thursday, responded that he will “continue to [defend our workers and businesses] as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1.”
“Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America. We are committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries,” he wrote.
Carney, who was away on vacation at an undisclosed location when Trump released his tariff letter, added that his government is working to build “Canada strong.”
“The federal government, provinces and territories are making significant progress in building one Canadian economy. We are poised to build a series of major new projects in the national interest. We are strengthening our trading partnerships throughout the world,” he wrote.
Trump in his letter, however, suggested that the tariffs could be stopped, giving Carney a path to make a deal with him.
“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of Fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter. These Tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country,” Trump wrote.
The facts are that most fentanyl that gets into the United States comes via its southern border with Mexico, not Canada.
Canada has applied some retaliatory tariffs against the United States. However, most have been dropped.
On Friday Carney announced an emergency meeting with all of Canada’s provincial premiers to address Trump’s tariff threat.
At the G7 summit in June, Carney said that he and Trump were working on a new trade deal between the two nations.
Trump said in late June that he would stop all trade talks with Canada until it stopped a Trudeau-era digital services tax (DST), which placed a tax on U.S.-based tech giants, which was later rescinded by Carney.
Trump’s 35 percent tariff threat on Canada comes even though Carney has appeared to sing the president’s praises in recent weeks.
At this June’s G7 leaders meeting in the Kananaskis area in Alberta, Carney praised Trump’s world “leadership,” despite saying many negative things about him during his election campaign.
Trump has routinely suggested that Canada become an American state in recent months, often making such statements while talking about or implementing trade tariffs on Canadian goods.
As for Carney, he has said his government plans to launch a “new economy” in Canada that will involve “deepening” ties to the world.
During his federal election campaign, Carney repeatedly took issue with Trump and the U.S., which turned into an anti-American Canadian legacy media frenzy.
However, the reality is that after Carney won the April 28 federal election, Trump praised him, saying, “Canada chose a very talented person.”
Many political pundits have said that Carney owes his win to Trump, as the U.S. president suggested on multiple occasions that he would rather work with Carney than Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.
