“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” said U.S. President Donald Trump in a Saturday morning Truth Social post.
His post comes around a week after an announcement that Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited Beijing, where he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other officials. Carney and Xi also released a joint statement outlining pillars of a new strategic partnership between Canada and China.
“Canada’s new government is working with urgency and determination to diversify our trade partnerships and catalyze massive new levels of investment,” said Canada’s announcement “As the world’s second-largest economy, China presents enormous opportunities for Canada in this mission.”
Trump has levied tariffs on imports from countries around the globe since he took office last year, and both Canada and China have been hit with high tariffs. Canada has pushed back on some of those tariffs, with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling them “dumb.”
Tariffs were also mentioned in Canada’s announcement last week. It said Canada will allow up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles (EV) into the Canadian market “with the most-favored-nation tariff rate of 6.1%,” that China will lower tariffs on Canadian canola seed to a combined rate of approximately 15%, a drop from combined tariffs of 85%.
“Canada expects that Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs, and peas will not be subject to relevant anti-discrimination tariffs from March 1, 2026, until at least the end of this year,” said the announcement. Canada also said it plans to increase exports to China by 50% by 2030.
In his Saturday post, Trump said: “If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken.” His use of “governor” to refer to Carney might be a reference to Trump’s reported attempts to make Canada a U.S. state.
Recently, Trump’s comments about the U.S. taking over Greenland, an autonomous nation that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, have made Canadians concerned. A poll cited by Audacy earlier this month showed that nearly a third of Canadians were concerned about the U.S. taking over their country.
In response to Canada’s deal talks with China, Trump has proposed even more tariffs. However, some research indicates that the American people pay for the majority of these costs, not foreign countries. Trump still contends that the tariffs create great wealth.
“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A.,” said Trump.