Mark Carney’s defiance: Canada shows the world how to respond to Donald Trump’s threats

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks about Canada’s response to new U.S. tariffs during a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Aug. 22, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle Mark Carney’s defiance: Canada shows the world how to respond to Donald Trump’s threats Published: August 25, 2026 7.11pm EDT Share article Print article Canadian Prime Minister Carney has announced the suspension of Canada-United States trade talks, citing “last-minute changes” made by American negotiators that “were unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal.” Within hours, President Donald Trump’s new Section 338 tariffs, targeting $28 billion in Canadian goods, took effect. Early estimates project that the tariffs could cost 90,000 Canadian jobs. Until the breakdown in negotiations, the Carney government’s diplomatic posture towards the U.S. had been highly conciliatory. In May, Carney was calling for greater Canada-U.S. integration, arguing that “Canada Strong will help make America great again.” Now, with trade talks exhausted and fresh economic pain on the way for both Canadians and Americans, conciliation appears to be a spent force. Instead, anger and escalation are taking centre stage. Read more: Why Mark Carney is pushing ‘Fortress North America’ amid deep Canadian distrust of the U.S. Asked too much, offered too little Nobody expected an equal deal between Canada and the U.S. Many of the trade deals struck by the second Trump administration have been deeply one-sided, with the U.S. typically imposing hefty tariffs and extracting commitments from the other party to purchase American goods. Still, the sheer one-sidedness of the American proposals is galling. Canada would have had to accept hefty tariffs on automobile, steel, aluminium and lumber exports in return for market access it previously enjoyed for decades. Add to this last-minute demands that would have deeply compromised Canadian sovereignty, including requirements to curtail the protection of the French language — one of the longest running trade policies in Canadian history — and to hold a veto over who Canada can trade with. For any country, a lopsided deal that penalizes national industries is upsetting. But for Canadians already sensitive to Trump’s taunts and insults, adding last-minute demands to erode sovereignty has been nothing short of enraging. As Carney put it on Aug. 22: “We cannot accept what they’ve…