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Tariffs and mockery
Trump administration officials mocked Canada and its military capabilities on Monday as tensions escalated over a trade dispute, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent telling CNBC, "We’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada?"
“"We’re not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada?"”
Bessent also said, "they’re going to take their two submarines from the Edmonton Mall and sic them on us?" while the relationship between the longtime allies deteriorated.
The dispute sharpened after Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade negotiations with Washington in August, saying last-minute U.S. demands were "unfair" and "uneconomic."
Canadian voters appeared to back Carney’s approach in three special elections held in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia, with the Liberals winning all three, according to Newsweek.
In the same reporting, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared an image on X that appeared to be associated with the Royal Canadian Army cadets and added only a Canadian flag emoji and the words "this is real," seemingly mocking the appearance of a young person.
Language fight and Lake America
A breakdown in bilateral trade talks left the dispute threatening to become an all-out trade war, with Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney claiming his country had come "under attack" from the US.
The Guardian described a Canadian accusation that U.S. negotiators pressed for weakening legal protections for the French language, which is most heavily spoken in Quebec, and Carney said U.S. objections amounted to "threats to French language and culture."
Jamieson Greer, Trump’s US trade representative, told CNBC, "I speak French, too," dismissing the claims as "a funny, fake story."
Hours later, Trump publicly signed an executive order supposedly changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America, and the Guardian said the act illustrated the limited freedom of manoeuvre held by anyone representing the president so preoccupied with trade.
In a separate report on the lake, Trump said the change would be effective immediately and added, "I’ve always thought of naming the lake ‘Lake America.’"
Northern Minnesota stakes
As the tariff fight deepened, WTIP reported that U.S.-Canada trade tensions could put pressure on northern Minnesota, where businesses, industries, and communities are tied to the Canadian economy.
“"Minnesota’s largest trade partner is Canada"”
WTIP said the Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, while Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on more than 700 U.S. products, with the Canadian tariffs scheduled to take effect Sept. 8.
Monica Haynes, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Minnesota Duluth, said, "Minnesota’s largest trade partner is Canada," and described interconnected supply chains.
She also warned that "we will likely see a decline in some of that activity" as tariffs are put into place, with the impact first beginning with businesses and importers before reaching consumers.
WTIP added that Minnesota transports about 20 million tons of iron ore each shipping season across the Great Lakes via the Port of Duluth-Superior, and that the port handles commodities including coal, limestone, grain, fertilizer, and heavy equipment.