Photo: Collected
US President Donald Trump has claimed that a trade deal with Canada will be done ‘very soon’. He said this at an election rally on Sunday, with only nine days left before the crucial midterm elections next Tuesday.
News agency AFP reported this.
Tensions have grown between the North American neighbours, the United States and Canada, since trade talks collapsed last August. After the talks failed, Trump imposed new tariffs on one Canadian product after another.
At a rally in Port Huron, a Michigan town on the Canadian border, Trump said, ‘We will settle it very soon. Right now they are ready to give us anything.’
This town has been hit hard by Trump’s tariff war.
At the rally, Trump again argued in favour of the tariffs imposed on Canada. He alleged that Canada has treated the United States unfairly for years.
The tariffs imposed after the talks broke down in August covered about $20 billion worth of goods, from hockey sticks to cement.
In response, Canada imposed tariffs on US goods of equal value. In retaliation, Trump later imposed new tariffs of up to 50 percent on some products.
However, the White House lifted part of these tariffs on Friday. The decision came at the request of Senator Susan Collins of the border state of Maine. Maine has suffered more than others in the trade war.
Democrats want to take control of the Senate from the Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections. To do so, they are also trying to win Collins’s seat.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has brought major changes to the global trading system by imposing sweeping tariffs. He alleges that various countries have long taken unfair advantage of the United States.
In some cases, he has also directly linked threats of possible tariffs to achieving political and foreign policy goals.
Background
According to an NPR report of 22 August, US-Canada talks collapsed on Friday night, shortly before a midnight deadline for 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods to take effect.
A 22 August report by news agency AP said both sides blamed each other for the breakdown of the talks, and Canada set 8 September as the start date for its retaliatory tariffs.
Sources
Original report: BSS
Background sources: NPR, 22 August 2026; AP, 22 August 2026
