‘We Don’t Need Canada’: Trump Escalates Trade War With Threat of 50% Auto Tariffs

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office at the White House on May 6, 2025 in Washington, D.C. —Anna Moneymaker––Getty Images President Donald Trump threatened to raise automobile tariffs on Canada to 50% as the trade rift and political slanging match between the neighboring nations escalated.

Trump announced Monday morning that U.S. tariffs on all Canadian cars and trucks, automotive parts, and steel will increase to 50% starting Jan.

1, 2027.

“Build in the U.S. and there are zero tariffs.

Canada will be treated like a State no longer! On trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst nations in the world to deal with,” he said on social media.

Trump’s comments came after trade talks between the two countries broke down , with each side accusing the other of making eleventh-hour demands that derailed negotiations.

“They feel entitled, and yet, we don’t need Canada, they need us!” the President said, repeating his accusation that “Canada has been ripping off the United States of America for years.” Trump previously touted the nearly finished deal between the two countries last Tuesday.

However, negotiations broke down on Friday, and the Administration's 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of imports into the U.S. from Canada took effect Saturday.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed to match the U.S.’s tariffs “ dollar for dollar .” “We are stronger now than when the United States started this trade war.

More unified, more determined, and more ambitious,” Carney said during a press conference Saturday, referring to the year-long trade rift that has come to affect both countries.

“Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us.

And promised: “That will never, ever happen.” We are keeping that promise.

Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America.” Both sides have since blamed the other for making unreasonable demands late in the negotiating process.

“While we believed, earlier this week, that we were moving toward a mutually beneficial agreement, in recent days, the U.S. proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada, calling into question the reliability of any deal,” Carney said on Saturday.