Political news and analysis for Canadians
Speaking with reporters in Winnipeg, Premier Wab Kinew comments on Canada’s decision to suspend trade negotiations with the United States hours ahead of a deadline to reach a deal. The U.S. is now set to impose a new round of tariffs on imports from Canada, with Prime Minister Mark Carney vowing to implement dollar-for-dollar tariffs on American goods in retaliation.
La première ministre du Québec, Christine Fréchette, tient une conférence de presse à Montréal à la suite de l’entrée en vigueur des tarifs imposés par le président américain Donald Trump. Elle est accompagnée du ministre de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie, Bernard Drainville, du ministre des Finances et des Infrastructures, Eric Girard, du ministre des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie, Christopher Skeete, ainsi que du ministre de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation, Donald Martel.
Speaking with reporters in Toronto, Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, comments on Canada’s decision to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. hours ahead of a deadline to reach a deal.
Prime Minister Mark Carney holds a news conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa after Canada and the U.S. failed to reach a trade agreement before a late Friday deadline and Canada said it was suspending negotiations. The prime minister has indicated that his government intends to retaliate dollar-for-dollar against new U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.
The costs to the U.S. of poisoning its relationship with Canada are measurable. We see them in high U.S. inflation, the billions lost to U.S. tourism, disrupted trade with border states dependent on the Canadian market, a major hit to the bottom line of Detroit’s automakers, and the collapse of exports for the American booze industry.
Increasingly, Americans with the most to lose from a continental rift are pushing back, reports Tim Shufelt of the Globe and Mail.
Bob Rae: “As the members of the Canadian delegation comes home this morning, they can hold their heads high. Canada couldn’t sign a deal the Americans tried to change at the last minute. Ask anyone who has done business with Donald Trump. That’s how he does it. It can’t work.
There will be lots of time to second guess what happened. But we need to come together as we have never done before.
We cannot succumb to tyranny, to the use of aged statutes that have not been used for a century. Trump is now our George III. Our American friends have to understand this. We are not Belarus. We are a real country that was ready to do a deal – and still is – for both parties but not prepared to put up with these “knavish tricks”.”
The threat Trump poses to Canada means the best way to preserve Quebec’s unique French culture is to stay within Canada — at least for now, writes Maria Cheng at Reuters.
Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state and the whiplash from his tariff policy have spurred an outpouring of Canadian patriotism in Quebec, a province that regularly threatens to break away and has had two previous referendums on the issue.
From the written statement of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Friday August 21, 2026, 23:48 Hrs:
“To strike a fair deal that would provide the best access to the U.S. market and greater certainty to Canadian businesses and workers. Throughout, our goal has been to secure the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any deadline.
In recent weeks, we made important progress toward improving Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S.
One of U.S. President Donald Trump’s most influential cabinet members has expressed dissatisfaction with the state of the trade deal on the table with Canada and is pushing for changes to be made as the high-stakes trade negotiations come down to the wire in Washington, CBC News has learned.
Four sources with knowledge of the closed-door discussions say U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a central figure in the Trump administration’s economic policy who has known the president for decades, has said he believed the United States could secure a better agreement than the one that’s been on offer since Tuesday.
Call it voting with your liver. In the same way that you can lead a horse to water but can’t make it drink, putting U.S. alcohol back on Canadian shelves can’t make locals partake, writes the Globe and Mail’s Editorial Board.
For Canadians, the situation is straightforward. A recent Nanos poll found that 81 per cent had a negative view of the relationship with the U.S. The feeling appears to run deep.
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