Canada · Donald Trump · U.S. · Republicans · Fortune Technology
In border states, even Trump’s own party wants the Canada fight to be
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When U.S.-Canada trade talks collapsed for good last Friday night, the recriminations broke out almost instantly, and not between Washington and Ottawa.
Key facts
- The practical result was the same regardless of which account is right: 50% U.S. tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods took effect at 12:01 a.m
- Trump has since announced a 50% U.S. tariff on Canadian vehicles, trucks, auto parts and steel set to take effect Jan. 1, 2027—an escalation from the current 25% rate
- Vermont’s exposure explains the persistence: Canada is Vermont’s largest export market by a wide margin, accounting for 31% of the state’s total goods exports in 2025—more than double
- No governor has been louder than Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who has criticized the tariffs since shortly after they were first imposed in February 2025 and escalated her rhetoric
Summary
The latest escalation came Monday, when U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC’s Squawk Box Canada was to blame for the breakdown, saying negotiators had reached the outline of a deal by Tuesday night only for Ottawa to add last-minute demands. “In the last hours, I think there were things that the Canadians just—you know, they wanted more,” Greer said. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has offered the mirror-image account, saying the U.S. side introduced “last-minute changes” to proposed terms that were “unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.