The president said the U.S. can do without Canada as a new round of tariffs deepens a cross-border trade fight. Reporting points to significant U.S. reliance on Canadian energy, metals and supply chains.
President Donald Trump intensified his criticism of Canada on Wednesday, saying it was time to show Ottawa that it could not continue its trade practices after negotiations between the two countries broke down.
In an interview with Glenn Beck, Trump said the United States could get by without Canada, while acknowledging there were some products that would be inconvenient to replace. His comments came days after the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion in Canadian imports.
Canada responded with retaliatory duties of roughly the same value and announced support for affected businesses and workers. The countries had been trying to reach an agreement before the latest U.S. measures took effect, but Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Washington’s final demands were unacceptable. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the administration acted in response to Canadian retaliation and to protect American workers and supply chains.
The dispute has also sharpened scrutiny of Trump’s broader claims about Canada. In social-media posts this week, Trump said Canada had a 10% and rising unemployment rate, that it does 95% of its business with the United States, and that high Canadian agricultural tariffs had created a $60 billion deficit for the U.S.
CNN’s fact check found those assertions misstated key data. Canada’s unemployment rate was 6.4% in July, according to Statistics Canada, and about 72% of its merchandise exports went to the U.S. in 2025, not 95%. Canada does maintain high out-of-quota tariffs on a narrow set of protected agricultural products, including dairy and poultry, but most U.S. agricultural exports to Canada are duty-free.
The United States is less dependent on Canada than Canada is on the U.S. market, but the economic relationship remains substantial. Canada is a major supplier of crude oil, aluminum, potash and other inputs used by American industries. AP reported that energy purchases account for much of the U.S. goods deficit with Canada; once services are included, the overall gap is smaller than the goods-only figure Trump has cited.
The immediate economic reach of the new U.S. tariffs is limited relative to the full trading relationship, covering about 5% of Canadian exports to the United States. But the escalation arrives as the two countries prepare to revisit the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, putting added strain on an alliance and commercial relationship built around deeply integrated energy and manufacturing networks.
