US AND CANADA IN TAX-FOR-TAX TRADE STAND-OFF

Canada has clapped back at the United States in a spiralling tit-for-tat, tax-for-tax tariff war.

This follows the abrupt collapse of trade talks between the two countries, which share a contiguous border and a longstanding, mutually dependent reliance on trade and other cross-border services.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney last week pulled his team out of trade talks with their US counterparts over claims of unreasonable demands by the United States.

At issue in the latest trade stand-off between the two neighbouring countries are a series of what both regard as intractable stumbling blocks.

There are claims and counterclaims from both sides over what has caused the talks to collapse and who is responsible for the stalemate.

According to some media reports, sticking points include US demands for tariff reductions on cars, steel, and aluminum, and conditions that Canada believes restrict it from pursuing trade deals with other countries. It’s reported that the Americans object to Canada’s insistence that its French culture be safeguarded, with products sold in French-speaking Quebec having a French description, and for trademarks using generic terms to be translated into French.

With relations already seriously strained and now worsening, President Donald Trump has taken to social media to berate Canada: “Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years,” he wrote, adding that Canada “wants the benefits” - of being the US 51st state - “without being one.” He also stated: “We don’t need Canada, they need us!” while accusing Canada of “ripping off the United States of America for years!”

For his part, Prime Minister Carney summed up the Canadian response, saying: “They asked too much and they offered too little…You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.” According to the Canadian government information, Canada accounts for 60% of total US crude oil imports and close to 100% of US natural gas exports.

President Trump has consequently slapped a 50 per cent tariff on a range of Canadian goods, including alcohol, timber products, and clothes.

Prime Minister Carney has now hit back with a retaliatory series of tariff hikes on a range of US imports, including steel and appliances, which now attract additional duties of between 15 and 50 per cent.

As Canada-US trade tensions escalate, in his latest salvo President Trump has threatened to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America. In a post on his Truth Social social media page, he wrote: “The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer.”

However, trade experts have pointed out that such a move could seriously backfire if President Trump acts on that threat.

They point out that Canada’s Lake Ontario provides power to approximately 1.5 million homes and businesses in the United States.