This is apropos a letter to the Editor from this writer carried by the newspaper yesterday. It is important to note that until recently, the two countries were bound by one of the strongest economic partnerships in the world.
In 2024, total goods trade between them reached USD 761.8 billion, with US exports to Canada worth USD 349.9 billion and imports from Canada at USD 411.9 billion.
Agriculture alone accounted for USD 28.4 billion in US exports, including nearly USD 800 million in dairy. Canada sent USD 124 billion worth of energy, machinery, and vehicles to the United States, while the USMCA trade agreement favored US dairy producers by granting 3.6 percent tariff-free access to Canada’s USD 15 billion dairy market and removing restrictions that had long frustrated American farmers. This trade was not just numbers—it represented communities, livelihoods, and a shared prosperity that outsiders often described as two halves of one whole.
That reality began to unravel early in President Trump’s second term when he abruptly imposed tariffs on Canadian goods, starting at 10 percent and then climbing to 35 percent, with threats of even higher duties on dairy.
In public speeches, he floated the idea of Canada becoming the “cherished 51st State” of the United States. The comments were not taken lightly in Ottawa. Prime Minister Mark Carney declared that “Canada is not for sale and will never be the 51st state.”
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described the remarks as humiliating, while Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland called the US actions “economic warfare.” Words quickly turned into confrontation, and soon a trade war was underway.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
The writer is a former Press Secretary to the President, An ex-Press Minister at Embassy of Pakistan to France, a former MD, SRBC Macomb, Detroit, Michigan
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