The Canada-U.S. Trade War Is in Full Swing, and Neither Side Is Backing Down

It’s Wednesday afternoon, and here’s what’s happening in Canada.

First off, the trade war is officially in full swing. Unfortunately.

Canada has made it clear that it has no intention of returning to the negotiating table until the United States comes back with what Prime Minister Mark Carney has described as the “right attitude.”

On Tuesday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced that Canada will match the latest U.S. tariffs dollar for dollar, imposing new counter-tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of American goods starting September 8.

The tariffs will range from 15 to 50 per cent and cover more than 700 American products. They include steel, dairy products, appliances, seafood, furniture, clothing, machinery, paper products and more.

The federal government also announced $7.5 billion in new and enhanced support for Canadian workers and businesses affected by the trade war.

Yesterday, Donald Trump made a series of Truth Social posts targeting Canada.

One of the strangest was his suggestion that the United States could rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”

Yes, really.

Trump said the United States was giving “serious consideration” to the idea because he doesn’t expect the U.S. to be doing much business with Ontario anymore.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra then got involved in the online trolling, sharing posts aimed at Canada.

During a phone interview with Glenn Beck this morning, Trump described Canada as one of the worst countries to deal with and accused us, once again, of taking advantage of the United States for decades.

His message to Canada was essentially that it’s time for us to learn that we can’t do this anymore.

So if anyone was hoping the temperature might start cooling off after the collapse of negotiations last week, that does not appear to be happening.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith continues to take a different approach.

Smith said yesterday that she believes Canada should return to the negotiating table with the United States.

But she has also made it clear that Alberta’s oil and gas are not on the table as potential leverage against the Americans. And this is where we’re starting to see some significant differences between the provinces over how Canada should respond.

B.C. Premier David Eby is calling on the federal government to look beyond tariffs and consider other ways of putting pressure on the United States.

One of those is Canada’s planned purchase of American-made F-35 fighter jets.

Eby says Canada should reconsider proceeding with the multibillion-dollar purchase while the United States is simultaneously attacking Canadian industries with tariffs.

He’s also looking at American coal.

The United States ships large quantities of coal through British Columbia’s Westshore Terminals in Delta because of limitations on exporting that coal through American West Coast ports.

Eby says Canada should consider using that access as leverage.

Tariffs are one thing. But Canada does have other tools it could leverage.

For now, Canada has chosen targeted retaliatory tariffs.

And with all the trade chaos, you may have missed what is becoming a pretty remarkable story in British Columbia.

Another two B.C. Conservative MLAs have left Kerry-Lynne Findlay’s party.

That brings the total to four Conservative MLAs leaving the caucus in just 12 days, with the latest departures again pointing to Findlay’s leadership and the direction of the party.

This started with Peter Milobar.

Then Ian Paton left and announced that he and Milobar intend to form a new provincial party aimed at giving a home to British Columbians who feel “politically homeless.”

Prince George-Valemount MLA Rosalyn Bird followed.

And now longtime Richmond-Bridgeport MLA Teresa Wat has announced she can no longer serve as a Conservative under Findlay’s leadership.

Four MLAs have walked away in less than two weeks.

Findlay has only been leader since May, and she hasn’t even won a seat in the legislature yet.

I’ve been telling you to keep an eye on what’s happening with the B.C. Conservatives under Kerry-Lynne Findlay.

I think we’re going to be talking about this story a lot more.