Canada says Trump tariffs aim to break its auto industry

Mark Carney said fresh US trade demands and threatened tariffs target Canada's auto industry. Ontario warned it could curb electricity and critical minerals, deepening a sovereignty-driven standoff.Stock photo used for illustrationCanadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Monday that fresh US trade demands had confirmed Canada's fears that President Donald Trump was trying to break its auto industry, as Trump threatened new 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian vehicles, auto parts and steel from next year. Carney said Canada was still willing to negotiate, but only if Washington treated the talks as a partnership between sovereign countries.The dispute escalated as Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned that Canada could respond by cutting off electricity and critical minerals to the United States. Ford said Trump had misread Canada's resolve, while Carney said US proposals for the auto sector would "gradually dismantle" Canadian production and damage a deeply integrated industry on both sides of the border.Carney said that "an attitude at the negotiation table that Canada is a subsidiary of the United States" was "not something we're going to accept". He added that Canada is the biggest customer for US automobiles and questioned what Trump's latest move would mean for workers in states such as Ohio, Kentucky and Alabama who depend on Canadian demand. "This is the most successful automotive partnership in history," Carney said.Trump said on social media that Canada had been "ripping off the United States of America for years" and criticised what he called Canada's "ridiculously high tariffs" on American farmers. Carney had walked away from trade negotiations with the Trump administration late on Friday, saying Washington wanted too much in return for tariff relief. The United States imposed 50 per cent tariffs on about USD 20 billion worth of Canadian goods on Saturday, and Carney announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation from September 8. In an interview with The Associated Press, Ford said Trump had "declared war, economic war against his closest friend and ally" and had underestimated Canadians' willingness to bear economic pain rather than yield to pressure. "He underestimates Canada. We're all in," Ford said. "Up here, we're at a fever pitch, everyone's in for an economic war. They know they're going to have to sacrifice." Ford, a Progressive Conservative, comes from a different party than Carney, a Liberal, underscoring the wider political unity in Canada over the dispute.Ford said "everything is on the table" if the standoff worsened, including stopping supplies of electricity and critical minerals from Ontario. "I'll cut them off," he said of critical minerals. "You won't get a grain of sand out of Ontario." He specifically pointed to high-grade nickel sent to the United States and uranium refined in Ontario, and said Canada should also consider using oil and potash as leverage. "We power 1.5 million homes and businesses," Ford said. "Everything's on the table. I'll do whatever it takes." He added that if Trump kept trying to dismantle Canadian manufacturing, "he better have a pack of batteries." Critical minerals have become increasingly important for US national security and manufacturing. The Pentagon has been seeking more secure supplies of minerals used in military aircraft, missiles, munitions and electronics as Washington tries to reduce reliance on China, which dominates the mining or processing of several strategically important minerals.Ford said Trump was not simply trying to secure a better trade deal, but was aiming to hollow out Canadian industries and shift production south. "He wants to bleed out every single sector and bring them down to the US," Ford said, adding that Trump wanted to make Canada a "vassal state". Ontario is the centre of Canada's vehicle manufacturing industry, and its plants and suppliers are closely linked with factories in Michigan and other US states, with parts often crossing the border several times during production. Automakers including Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have major assembly plants in Ontario, and the supply chain supports tens of thousands of jobs.US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Monday that "the only reason Canada has auto production in the first place" was the 1960s Auto Pact, under which Canada used access to its market to encourage vehicle production north of the border. Ford rejected that argument, saying, "If he thinks the Canadian people are going to roll over and just continue buying American-made vehicles, it's not going to happen."Ford also said he had opposed the preliminary agreement that Carney had been considering before Canada stepped away from the negotiations. "I wasn't supporting the deal," he said. He added that he was unwilling to restore American liquor to Ontario store shelves as part of any agreement and was prepared to publicly break with it. "I wasn't going to put the booze back on the shelves," Ford said. "I was ready to go out there and call a press conference ... and say I'm not buckling over." Ford said he understood that Washington had also sought language late in the talks that would have limited Canada's ability to negotiate trade deals with other countries without US approval. Carney has called that demand unacceptable and a matter of Canadian sovereignty. "Who does he think he is?" Ford said of Trump. "You gotta be kidding."Ford's criticism of Trump also revived his earlier invocation of former US President Ronald Reagan. Ford noted that Trump keeps a portrait of Reagan near his desk and said, "He'd be throwing up on him from the picture if he knew what was going on, spinning around in his grave right now. He should maybe take that picture off the wall and move it somewhere else. Because right now, Ronald Reagan would be disgusted with President Trump." The White House responded by saying Reagan had taken similar action against Japan. Spokesman Kush Desai said, "President Reagan enacted a 100% tariff on Japanese electronics for dumping on the US market and failing to open up Japan's market to Made-in-USA goods." Ford's Reagan remarks recalled a previous clash with Trump after Ontario paid for US television advertisements featuring a 1987 Reagan speech warning that tariffs could trigger retaliation and trade wars. Trump had accused Ontario of misrepresenting Reagan and halted trade talks with Canada, before Ford later agreed to pause the campaign so talks could resume.Even as the rhetoric hardened, Ford said Canada should continue engaging with Washington. "I never believe in walking away from the table," he said. "Continue negotiating and see where we go." The latest exchange left Canada and the United States facing a sharper trade confrontation, with the auto sector at its centre and both sides warning of wider consequences.With PTI Inputs- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Aug 25, 2026 00:14 IST