And So It Is War!

Statement by Prime Minister Carney on Canada-U.S. trade negotiations

August 21, 2026 Ottawa, Ontario

“Over the past 18 months, Canada’s new government has focused on building our strength at home, diversifying our partnerships abroad, and striking a fair deal with the United States.

Our objectives in our trade negotiations have been to:

Preserve tariff-free access to the U.S. for the vast majority of Canadian business;

Provide greater stability to our trade relationship;

Significantly reduce U.S. tariffs on our key strategic industries, so that Canadian businesses in these sectors would have the best access of any in the world;

Protect our small and medium-sized businesses – the lifeblood of our economy – including by removing the imminent threat of new tariffs; and

Maintain our flexibility, independence, and sovereignty so we can keep building the Canada we want.

We have recognised from the beginning that America has changed, and that we will not return to our old relationship. Our government understood, before many, that America is altering all its trade relationships. Putting tariffs on its closest allies and charging for access to its vast market.

We have worked in that context. To strike a fair deal that would provide the best access to the U.S. market and greater certainty to Canadian businesses and workers. Throughout, our goal has been to secure the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any deadline.

In recent weeks, we made important progress toward improving Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S.

However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians. As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa. They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute. However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.

At midnight tonight, the U.S. intends to impose a 50% tariff on roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods. Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses.

In the coming days, the government will introduce additional measures to support Canadian workers and businesses, building on the nearly $25 billion in support provided over the past 18 months.

These actions complement Canada’s core economic strategy. From day one, we have been focused on building our strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad.

That strategy is working. We are advancing nearly $500 billion in major infrastructure projects. In parallel, we are unlocking new export markets for Canadian businesses. Our existing free trade deals already provide Canada with preferential access to 1.5 billion consumers, and we are on track to double that market access by the end of this year.

Canadian economic growth is accelerating, and we are on course to have the second-fastest growth in the G7 over the next two years. Our economy is creating jobs at four times the rate of the United States. Our exports to non-U.S. markets are on track to double over the next decade. Foreign direct investment in Canada is at its highest level in two decades, running at twice the rate of our nearest G7 competitor. Canada now ranks as the most attractive country in the world for infrastructure investment.

Canada has what the world wants. And we will not allow any nation to determine our future. We will set our own course to keep building Canada strong for all.”

– Wayne Horton

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Washington Is Fighting Everyone Except Its Own Arithmetic

Start with the facts. US national debt passed 40 trillion dollars this week. The July deficit alone was 432 billion, worsened by courts striking down tariffs and forcing refunds. Thirty-year Treasury yields hit a 19-year high, meaning investors now demand more to lend America money, and the Treasury has doubled its bond buybacks to calm the market.

Here is why that matters. American borrowing has always rested on the world’s need for dollars, built on oil priced in dollars since the 1970s. But sanctions and Hormuz disruption are pushing more energy trade toward yuan and non-dollar channels. Less dollar demand means higher borrowing costs for a country that already spends more on interest than on health insurance.

Into this, Washington launches a 50 percent trade war against Canada, its closest trading partner. That is not strategy.

– Gandalv

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THE THING THAT gives me the greatest comfort as we wait for details of “the deal” is that Trump and Vance have been gloating about the great deal they’ve gotten from Canada, and how Trump “schooled” Carney.

Just as they’ve done repeatedly about the great deal they’ve forced on the Iranian regime.

Their gloat is always greatest before the fall.

– Mark Towhey

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– Kier Atkinson 🇨🇦

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