‘Eviscerated’: US President Donald Trump fumes over defiant Canada’s move
The one country that called Donald Trump’s bluff and didn’t blink is hopelessly outnumbered – and yet somehow still winning.
By Jamie Seidel, August 30, 202
ANALYSIS
“They are one of the worst countries in the world to deal with … and this has gone on for many years,” US President Donald Trump accused.
Canada’s being difficult.
Prime Minister Mark Carney is refusing to “bend the knee”.
But he’s being polite about it.
“We cannot accept what the US has offered,” he writes, “and we will not give what they have asked.”
Last week, President Trump proclaimed he’d sealed a trade deal between the neighbouring nations.
Turns out, he hadn’t.
Trump signs order renaming Lake Ontario ‘Lake of America’
Talks collapsed last Saturday, Australian time.
Abuse has been flying thick and fast ever since.
“WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” Mr Trump raged on social media earlier this week.
He called Canadians “entitled”.
He accused them of “taking advantage of the United States”.
“They don’t have anything that we have to have, okay, we can get by,” President Trump went on to tell the Glenn Beck podcast.
He’d just imposed another 50 per cent tariff on Canada. This time on steel, cement, cars, wine – and hockey sticks.
It didn’t take long before he realised what he’d done.
“This country desperately needs aluminium,” the President later lamented.
“Selfishly, we need aluminium in this country. We don’t have it. We get it all from Canada for the most part, and we need it badly.”
Reality bites.
President Trump’s trade wars have proven little more successful than his shooting war against Iran.
And it’s costing the US public.
The mercurial President’s polling numbers continue to slide. A new Angus Reid poll shows he has a disapproval rating of 24 per cent.
But he’s helping Prime Minister Carney along. A willingness to defy the superpower to his
south has earned him a 9 per cent approval score.
“Frankly, I think other countries are watching Canada’s response, and we hope, I hope, will be following along,” British Columbia’s Premier David Eby approved on social media.
“At some point, the rest of the world will say enough.”
With friends like these …
“One of the faults of the current administration is that it is treating its friends worse than its enemies, and there is no better example of that than Canada,” states Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analyst William Reinsch.
The trade negotiations with Canada followed a familiar pattern.
President Trump imposed an arbitrary deadline.
He issued dire threats of consequences.
He expressed extreme confidence in success.
He added last-minute conditions.
The deal fell through.
“Canada has negotiated in good faith for 18 months, but a year and a half in, it appears to have made a new calculation,” concludes Atlantic Council analyst and former Canadian ambassador Marcy Grossman.
“The cost of accepting a bad deal from an unreliable partner is greater than the cost of walking away.”
President Trump’s last-minute demands broke the deal.
He wanted Canada to get approval from the White House for any new trade deals with other countries.
He wanted Canada to drop requirements that its French community be accommodated with product translations and cultural quotas.
“This weekend, negotiations hit a Canadian nerve: sovereignty,” Grossman explains.
“No Canadian government can accept another country determining its lawful trade partners or how it protects its languages and culture. No Canadian would stand for it.”
‘Nothing is ever as simple as it seems’
“This is a classic bullying tactic, and Trump has gotten away with it for everybody except China and Canada,” states Reinsch.
“Whether Canadian resistance inspires others remains to be seen.”
The world has been cowed by the 47th President of the United States’ bombastic approach to everything.
Canberra’s determined to make itself as small a target as possible.
But Prime Minister Carney, like his predecessor Justin Trudeau, is prepared to call his bluff.
On Thursday, Mr Trump waved about a new executive order while in the Oval Office: “This is official, effective immediately”.
He’d just renamed Lake Ontario “Lake America”.
Prime Minister Carney pointed out it wasn’t even a Canadian name: “The name of Lake Ontario derives from the Wendat word ‘Ontari’io’, which means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is great’.”
Le nom du lac Ontario tire son origine du mot wendat « Ontari’io », qui signifie « le lac est beau, le lac est grand ».
Ce nom remonte à plus de 400 ans, bien avant la Confédération canadienne et la Déclaration d’indépendance des États-Unis d’Amérique.
Nous savons que les…
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) August 27, 2026
But President Trump is angry.
“They have taken advantage of the United States for many decades, actually. They charge tariffs that are unbelievable, like on milk, 400 per cent …” he accused.
“And I just said we’re taking them on.”
But he didn’t have to.
“In another burst of irony, Trump bragged that Canadian tariffs on US imports would be ‘eviscerated,’ Reinsch explains, “conveniently ignoring the fact that … Canadian tariffs were zero for the past 40 years. Until Trump invited their retaliation.”
His demand for “concessions” from Canada was, in reality, a demand to return matters to where things were before he took office. But he wants his own new tariffs to stay.
So, Prime Minister Carney is retaliating again.
He said he would match US tariffs “dollar for dollar”.
For over a year, Canada has worked intensively and in good faith with the United States to negotiate a new comprehensive trade deal. We have been pragmatic, patient, and persistent. Our goal has always been to get the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any…
— Mark Carney (@MarkJCarney) August 22, 2026
Meanwhile, President Trump is assessing the damage.
He’s already made one humiliating concession to Canada by easing tariffs on beef.
His MAGA base is upset at rising burger and steak prices. It comes with a trade-off – the move has angered cattle ranchers benefiting from the financial shield.
Now he may have to add aluminium to his excise list.
‘Thou Shalt Not Pass!’
“This fall we will begin intense discussions with the European Union, the world’s second-largest economy, to build a much stronger and deeper economic and security partnership,” Prime Minister Carney announced on Monday.
“We can build such unparalleled access, because we can be trusted.”
It was a double-pointed barb aimed at President Trump.
Approaching a trade alternative.
An emphasis on trust.
That’s the crux of the matter.
“An underlying factor was the Canadian concern about Trump’s unreliability – that no deal is ever final and that he will inevitably come back for another bite,” Reinsch states.
Other nations are suffering the same lack of transparency, reliability and accountability.
They’ve been hesitant to resist.
But Prime Minister Carney is persisting with the plan he presented at Davos earlier this year. He wants the world to stand together against White House coercion. He wants them to ignore the President, and press ahead with independent trade pacts.
They have cause to do so.
President Trump is angry at foreign privacy laws, social media standards, monopoly-busting regulations, cultural quotas … and trade success.
Currently, Prime Minister Carney still stands alone.
But not without support.
The weekend poll showed 85 per cent of Quebecers supported his resistance.
“The US actions have pushed Canadian outrage to record levels, and there is extraordinary pressure on Carney to push back,” warns Reinsch.
“The harder the United States presses, the more difficult it is for him to make concessions.”
But the fight is far from over.
“Canada, unlike others, called [Trump’s] bluff, which will probably lead to further US retaliation,’ Reinsch concludes.
“Trump’s initial reaction to any resistance is to double down on his position.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer
www.news.com.au/finance/economy/world-economy/eviscerated-us-president-donald-trump-fumes-over-defiant-canadas-move/news-story/2fb33a37d60b74ffb6805a7226c328db
