The telling signal Trump is strolling again his public feud with Canada amid commerce battle
President Donald Trump offered warm words against Canada‘s new prime minister even as the two sides continue to trade threats after Trump announced new tariffs on auto imports.
Trump cited a ‘very good conversation’ with Canadian PM Mark Carney, who said Thursday that the ‘old relationship’ with the U.S. ‘is over.’
Trump on Friday morning wrote that the two men held an ‘extremely productive call’ and that ‘we agree on many things.’
That was a turnaround from many of his posts about former PM Justin Trudeau, who Trump frequently mocked as ‘governor’ amid his repeated public statements about making Canada the 51st state.
Trump didn’t even mention absorbing the U.S. northern neighbor when asked about the latest tariff spat Friday afternoon.
‘We had a very, very good talk,’ he said, citing his morning phone call with the prime minister.
‘He’s going through an election now, and we’ll see what happens. But we are – we have Liberation Day, as you know, on April 2,’ Trump said – using his phrase for the day he will impose ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on nations around the world.
‘And I’m not referring to Canada, but many countries have taken advantage of us, the likes of which nobody even thought was possible for many, many decades, for decades. And you know, that has to stop. We’re going to end up with a very good relationship with Canada and a lot of the other countries,’ Trump said.
‘We’re going to end up with a very good relationship with Canada and a lot of the other countries,’ Trump said, hours after a phone call with the new Canadian PM. He issued an order to slap a 25% tariff on auto imports Wednesday
Those comments appeared to carve out Canada from taking ‘advantage’ of the U.S. That, too, is a change from previous rhetoric. Last week, Trump said: ‘Here’s my problem with Canada … Canada was meant to be the 51st state … We don’t need their cars. We don’t need their lumber … We don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything.’
Trump on Thursday slapped 25 percent tariffs on car and light truck imports. That prompted statements from Carney to hit back with trade actions. Trump said the tariffs won’t go into effect until April 2, in theory providing an opportunity to roll them back.
Speaking on a trip to Greenland, a territory that Trump said the U.S. must have, Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about how Americans should respond amid the anticipated spike in auto prices. ‘We have to have it,’ Trump said.
Vance, a former Ohio senator, used the same language Trump used when he berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office.
‘They just don’t have the cards,’ Vance said.
‘That means we’re going to fight back even against some of our friends and their unfair economic practices,’ he said.
Separating auto ‘imports’ from domestic vehicles is challenging, with parts going in both directions across the borders between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico in a continental supply chain.
The U.S. automakers lobbied against the tariffs and secured a one-month pause from Trump before his announcement this week.
‘The Prime Minister informed the President that his government will implement retaliatory tariffs to protect Canadian workers and our economy, following the announcement of additional U.S. trade actions on April 2, 2025,’ Carney’s office said in a statement.
Carney’s Liberal Party has seen its fortunes improve amid the trade clashes with Trump. Canadian hockey fans have even booed during the National Anthem during hockey games.
