President Donald Trump has hinted at Rocky negotiations as he escalates a war of words with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and seeks to abolish Canada’s growing trade war.
On Wednesday, Trump turned his eyes to Truth Social, his social media platform, giving him a version of the noon phone he held with Trudeau.
“Cole ended in a ‘somewhat’ friendly way,” Trump said, but details.
But Republican leaders accused Trudeau of being too little to deal with fentanyl trafficking, experts say there are slight concerns along the Canadian border.
Trump also openly questioned Trudeau’s role in Canada’s upcoming federal elections, and, like other world leaders, attempted to question the legitimacy of the government.
Pressure on tariffs
The high-level negotiations come one day after Trump imposed a 25% tariff on products on both Canada and Mexico, the two largest trading partners in the United States, not to mention their neighbors.
These high tariffs have been looming on both countries for a while.
Shortly after winning the presidency in November, Trump announced that he had planned to use 25% tariffs to close the borders in Canada and Mexico.
He also said Canada could avoid such incredible tariffs by giving its sovereignty and becoming the 51st state in the United States.
After taking office on January 20th, Trump set a date for tariffs to take effect in early February. But both Canada and Mexico have offered compromises that allow them to delay tariffs to avoid the expected harm to their economy.
For Mexico, it meant sending 10,000 National Guard personnel to the US border. For Canada, the compromise took the form of a series of measures, including the creation of a “fentanyl TSAR” and a task force to crack down on drug trafficking.
However, the delay expired Tuesday, with US tariffs coming into effect later.
Canada and Mexico quickly responded with their own retaliatory tariffs, marking the opening salvos of the early trade wars.
“Canadians are reasonable, we are polite. But we will not retreat from the fight, not when the happiness of our country and everyone in it is at stake,” Trudeau said Tuesday.
He warned that economies of all three countries will be harmed by trade conflicts.
Already, sudden import duties have rattled several industries, and the “Big 3” American automakers (Ford, Stellantis and General Motors) petitioned Trump for a one-month exemption from tariffs on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Canada is trying to negotiate an end to a trade war with the Trump administration, but is about to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization over sudden tariffs.
The tariffs allege that they violate the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a free trade agreement struck during Trump’s first term.
Focus on fentanyl
In his Truth Social Post Wednesday, Trump highlighted the illegal drug fentanyl as a sticking point in tariff negotiations.
“Justin Trudeau of Canada called me to ask what he could do about the tariffs. I told him that a lot of people had died in fentanyl, passing through the border between Canada and Mexico, and nothing I was convinced that it had stopped,” Trump wrote.
“He said it got better, but I said, ‘That’s not enough.’ ”
However, experts have questioned whether the focus is on fentanyl at the Canadian border.
Canada itself calls tariffs “unfair.” The US government’s own statistics point to below 1% of the amount of fentanyl seized along the country’s shared borders.
According to the US Customs and Border Protection website, in 2024, only about 19.5 kilograms (43 pounds) were confiscated at the country’s northern border.
That’s of the total exceeding 9,934kg (21,900 pounds) that entered the United States that year.
Still, on Wednesday, Trump denounced Trudeau for “weak border policy” that is “responsible for the deaths of many people.”
And his administration was defensive against accusations that he was inventing the issue to justify tariffs.
During a news briefing on Wednesday, White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt was attacked by reporters, questioning Trump’s motives and stating that the amount of fentanyl arriving from Canada could fit into a “carrying suitcase.”
“You ask me what the President’s justification for these tariffs is. It’s not up to you. You’re not the President,” replied Levitt. “Frankly, I think it’s a bit rude to a family in this country that has lost a loved one with this deadly poisonous hand.”
Questions about Canadian elections
Canadian Finance Minister Dominique LeBlanc spoke to CBC TV show The National on Tuesday, saying his government was working to avoid tariffs and that he was in conversation with US counterpart, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
However, LeBlanc stressed that a compromise is unacceptable, except for the utter abolition of tariffs. He called on the United States to “return to respecting free trade agreements.”
“We are not interested in some sort of reduction in tariffs,” LeBlanc said. “We hope that the US-Mexico free trade agreement is respected and will continue to work with the US government on the issue even after tariffs are lifted.”
“This isn’t about meeting someone along the way or reducing tariffs,” he added. “We want to ensure that Canadian goods and services can enter the United States without tariffs.”
But Trump himself uses tariffs to give sovereignty to the Canadian government and pressure them to join the United States.
During the second term, Trump has repeatedly expressed his expansionist desire to grow US territory overseas, including what he repeated in a joint speech with the US Congress on Tuesday.
Again on Wednesday, Trump called Trudeau “governor.” This is the title used by US leaders.
He also sought to promote questions about the legitimacy of Trudeau’s power by writing in conspiratorial terms about Canada’s upcoming federal elections.
“He couldn’t tell me when the Canadian election was taking place, which made me curious,” Trump wrote of Trudeau. “So, what’s going on here? Then I realized he was trying to use this issue to maintain power. Good luck Justin!”
Trump has a history of questioning the legitimacy of other leaders. In February he called another elected official, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the “dictator” who did not hold wartime elections. Ukraine is currently dodging serious invasions from Russia.
But Trump’s efforts to undermine Trudeau may have encouraged the opposite effect.
After years of Canadian Conservatives in polls, Trudeau’s liberals have seen a return to popularity.
Trudeau is scheduled to resign as Liberal leader on March 9th, in the election to replace him.
Canada must hold a federal election by October 20th, but the Liberals could begin voting earlier.
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