Politics
Trump warns Canada with 100% tariff over China deal
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose a 100% tariff on Canada if it goes ahead with a trade deal with China and warned Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that such a deal would endanger his country.
“China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods and products coming into the US.”
In a video on Saturday, Carney urged Canadians to buy domestic products, but did not directly mention Trump’s tariff threat.
“With our economy under threat from abroad, Canadians have made a choice to focus on what we can control,” Carney said. “We can’t control what other nations do, we can be our own best customer.”
The Canadian prime minister travelled to China this month to reset the countries’ strained relationship and reached a trade deal with Canada’s second-biggest trading partner after the US.
Immediately after Carney’s China trip, Trump sounded supportive. “It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal,” Trump told reporters at the White House on January 16. “If you can get a deal with China, you should do that.”
“There is no pursuit of a free trade deal with China. What was achieved was resolution on several important tariff issues,” Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-US trade, said on Saturday in a post on X.
The Chinese embassy in Canada said in a statement to Reuters that China was ready to work with Canada to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries.
US-Canada tensions have grown in recent days following Carney’s criticism of Trump’s pursuit of Greenland.
More pressure on Canadian industries
On Saturday, Trump suggested China would try to use Canada to evade US tariffs.
“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,” Trump said, using a title for Carney that refers to Trump’s past calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.
In a second Saturday post, Trump said, “The last thing the world needs is to have China take over Canada. It’s NOT going to happen, or even come close to happening!”
If Trump carries out Saturday’s threat, the new tariff would sharply increase US duties on its northern neighbour, adding pressure to Canadian industrial sectors such as metal manufacturing, autos and machinery.
Relations between Carney and Trump seemed relatively placid until the Canadian leader this week spoke out forcefully against Trump’s pursuit of Greenland.
Carney subsequently, at the World Economic Forum, called on nations to accept that a rules-based global order was over and pointed to Canada as an example of how “middle powers” might act together to avoid being victimised by American hegemony.
Carney, during his speech in Davos, Switzerland, did not directly call out Trump or the US by name. However, the prime minister said: “Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.”
Many world leaders and industry titans present at the Switzerland confab responded with a standing ovation.
Trump shot back in his own Davos speech, saying Canada “lives because of the United States,” a statement Carney rejected on Thursday.
“Canada and the United States have built a remarkable partnership in the economy, in security and in rich cultural exchange,” Carney said in Quebec. “Canada doesn’t live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”
Since then, Trump has dug in against Canada, revoking its invitation to his Board of Peace that he wants to deal with international conflicts and Gaza’s future.
After Carney’s election last year, Trump and Carney shared a congenial tone. “I think the relationship is going to be very strong,” Trump said at the time.
But Trump this month dismissed the mega trade deal between the US, Canada, and Mexico — up for renegotiation in July — as “irrelevant.”
Trump has issued many tariff threats since returning to the presidency, though in several cases he has paused them during negotiations or relented entirely. This week, Trump backed off his recent threat to impose stiff tariffs on European allies after the NATO chief and other leaders promised to step up security in the Arctic.
“We hope the two governments can come to a better understanding quickly that can alleviate further concerns for businesses who face the immediate consequences of torqued-up uncertainty,” the Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Matthew Holmes said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump has said India will buy Venezuelan oil, as opposed to purchasing oil from Iran.
“We’ve already made that deal, the concept of the deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he travelled to his vacation home in Florida from Washington.
Reuters reported on Friday that the United States has told Delhi it could soon resume purchases of Venezuelan oil to help replace imports of Russian oil, citing three people familiar with the matter.
India has not been importing significant amounts of Iranian oil due to US sanctions, but became a major buyer of Russian oil after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered Western sanctions that drove down its price.
Trump in August doubled duties on imports from India to 50% to pressure New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil, and earlier this month said the rate could rise again if it did not curb its purchases.
However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled in January that the additional 25% tariff on Indian goods could be removed, given what he called a sharp reduction in Indian imports of Russian oil.
Trump in March 2025 also imposed a 25% tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil, including India. The US government this week lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry to make it easier for US companies to sell its crude oil.
Trump’s comments on Saturday appeared to reflect continued improvement in US-India relations, which have been tense throughout the past year.
Trump also said China could make a deal with the US to buy Venezuelan oil.
“China is welcome to come in and would make a great deal on oil,” Trump said, without providing any details.
- Congress leadership condemns Modi for ties, demands answers.
- Cites Modi’s meetings with Trump, Israel trip to allege connection.
- Govt denies any advisory role or meaningful contact with Epstein.
Freshly released files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked attention after an email mentioning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced in the latest batch published by the US Department of Justice, drawing a sharp response from New Delhi.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that one of the emails, attributed to Epstein, refers to Modi’s 2017 state visit to Israel — the first ever by an Indian prime minister.
The message claims Modi acted on Epstein’s advice during the trip, a suggestion Indian authorities have firmly rejected.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the only verifiable fact in the email is Modi’s official visit to Israel, calling the rest of the claims unfounded and misleading.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the remarks as the musings of a convicted criminal, saying there was no evidence of any meaningful contact or advisory role involving Modi and Epstein.
Despite the denial, opposition parties have cited the reference to press the government for an explanation.
Meanwhile, local media reported that the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, strongly criticised Prime Minister Modi, calling any alleged link with Epstein a matter of deep national shame.
Congress, in a recent statement, said Epstein wrote in an email that Modi took his advice before visiting Israel, claiming Modi “danced and sang” there for the benefit of the US president.
The party said Modi visited Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017, and that Epstein’s email was written three days after the trip.
It added that Modi had met then US President Donald Trump in June 2017, before the Israel visit, claiming this showed a long-standing and deep connection between Modi and Epstein.
The opposition party said the issue concerns national dignity and international credibility and that Modi must answer questions about what advice he took from Epstein and the meaning of the claims made in the email.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was jailed in 2008 for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.
President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.
- Congress leadership condemns Modi for ties, demands answers.
- Cites Modi’s meetings with Trump, Israel trip to allege connection.
- Govt denies any advisory role or meaningful contact with Epstein.
Freshly released files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have sparked attention after an email mentioning Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced in the latest batch published by the US Department of Justice, drawing a sharp response from New Delhi.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday that one of the emails, attributed to Epstein, refers to Modi’s 2017 state visit to Israel — the first ever by an Indian prime minister.
The message claims Modi acted on Epstein’s advice during the trip, a suggestion Indian authorities have firmly rejected.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the only verifiable fact in the email is Modi’s official visit to Israel, calling the rest of the claims unfounded and misleading.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the remarks as the musings of a convicted criminal, saying there was no evidence of any meaningful contact or advisory role involving Modi and Epstein.
Despite the denial, opposition parties have cited the reference to press the government for an explanation.
Meanwhile, local media reported that the main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, strongly criticised Prime Minister Modi, calling any alleged link with Epstein a matter of deep national shame.
Congress, in a recent statement, said Epstein wrote in an email that Modi took his advice before visiting Israel, claiming Modi “danced and sang” there for the benefit of the US president.
The party said Modi visited Israel from July 4 to 6, 2017, and that Epstein’s email was written three days after the trip.
It added that Modi had met then US President Donald Trump in June 2017, before the Israel visit, claiming this showed a long-standing and deep connection between Modi and Epstein.
The opposition party said the issue concerns national dignity and international credibility and that Modi must answer questions about what advice he took from Epstein and the meaning of the claims made in the email.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. He was jailed in 2008 for soliciting paid sex from a minor.
A fresh cache of files released on Friday related to the investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein contains documents that refer to numerous high-profile figures.
President Donald Trump, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and British billionaire Richard Branson are among some of the people named in the documents.
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