Letters from an American
· collected 2026-08-25 · by Heather Cox Richardson
commentary
On Friday night, Prime Minister Mark Carney instructed Canadian negotiators to walk away from talks with officials from the Trump administration over new tariffs of 50% Trump had imposed on $28 billion of Canadian products.
asserted
Trump → instruct → products
Carney explained in a statement that “last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
asserted
changes → explain → deal
He has a point.
asserted
He → have → point
From July 1, 2020, until Trump’s second term, the U.S., Canada, and Mexico traded under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA).
asserted
U.S. → trade → Agreement
Negotiated under the first Trump administration, USMCA replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and was similar to it, creating one of the world’s largest free trade zones.
asserted
USMCA → negotiate → zones
The trade zone reinforced the close alliance between Canada and the U.S., enabling people in both countries to enjoy the longest demilitarized border in the world stretching more than 5,000 miles (more than 8,000 kilometers) across the entire North American continent.
asserted
zone → reinforce → continent
Canada and the U.S. have shared military and defense capabilities, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) operating since 1957 to detect aircraft or missiles, especially those coming over the North Pole, that could prove a threat to the United States (NORAD’s Santa Tracker originally was a way to make Americans aware of what NORAD did).
uncertain
NORAD → share → what
But as soon as he won reelection in 2024, Trump began to emphasize that he intended to use “economic force,” specifically tariffs, to pressure Canada into joining the U.S. as its 51st state.
asserted
he → win → state
He began to exercise that threat the day he took office for the second time, saying he would put 25% tariffs on Canada.
asserted
he → begin → Canada
This violation of his own trade agreement reflected the administration’s abandonment of the principles of free trade and defensive alliances put in place after World War II, replacing that system with one favored by autocrats like Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, in which strong countries imposed spheres of influence in their regions of the world.
asserted
countries → reflect → world
Since then, Trump has sought to use the extraordinary economic power of the United States to force Canada and other countries into subordinate relationships.
asserted
Trump → seek → relationships
The recent threat against Canada came after Trump’s previous tariffs either were struck down or expired.
asserted
tariffs → come → Canada
On July 20, Trump said he would use Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, more commonly known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, to impose a 50% tariff on certain Canadian products.
asserted
he → say → products
No president had ever before invoked Section 338, which allows a president to impose tariffs when a country discriminates against U.S. products relative to its comparative treatment of other countries’ goods.
asserted
country → invoke → goods
On Sunday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Carney would have to back down because tariffs will be “devastating for his country.”
asserted
tariffs → say → country
Also on Sunday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board noted that Trump “has contrived an array of pretexts—from fentanyl trafficking to trade deficits—to bludgeon Canada with tariffs.”
asserted
Trump → note → tariffs
And the editorial board, known for its right-wing slant, called Trump’s tariff war on Canada “the dumbest trade war in history” and said it “makes no economic or political sense.”
asserted
it → know → sense
Canada is the second largest trading partner of the U.S., and the editors noted that Trump’s “latest round of border taxes will hit an array of consumer goods, construction materials and manufacturing components,” driving prices still higher at a time when consumers are already squeezed.
asserted
consumers → trade → time
Trump’s new attack on Canada might not make economic or political sense for the U.S., but it seems to make sense for a decaying president.
uncertain
it → make → president
Trump is flailing in Iran, and so—as national security scholar Tom Nichols pointed out in The Atlantic after Trump nonsensically attacked South Korea, another longstanding and loyal ally—he is looking to reassert his dominance.
asserted
he → flail → dominance
Trump doesn’t dare to cross the leaders who actually threaten the U.S., those like Putin, China’s Xi Jinping, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
asserted
who → dare → Putin
Instead, Nichols writes, he is trying to make himself feel better by “kicking America’s allies, the nations he can punish without fear that they will kick him back.”
asserted
they → write → him
“At a better moment in American history, an enraged Congress would step in and demand answers about such dangerous idiocy,” Nichols wrote.
asserted
Nichols → step → idiocy
“They would rush to the White House, talk to the press, hold hearings, and in general act like responsible stewards of American power.”
asserted
They → rush → power
But Republicans in charge of Congress appear to be unwilling to cross Trump.
asserted
Republicans → appear → Trump
Our allies, though, Nichols notes, “have power and agency of their own, and even now are likely planning for a world in which the Americans are no longer men and women of principle who stand by their word and by their friends.”
asserted
who → note → friends
That moment appears to have arrived.
asserted
moment → appear → ?
In Davos, Switzerland, in January 2026, Carney warned the World Economic Forum that the world is “in the midst of a rupture.”
asserted
world → warn → rupture
He warned that the post–World War II rules-based international order is no longer automatically a route to prosperity and security as the world’s most powerful nations are using the economic integration that system championed as a way to coerce other countries.
asserted
system → warn → countries
He urged “middle countries” to create “coalitions for different issues based on common values and interests” as an alternative to a “world of fortresses” made up of major powers with spheres of influence.
asserted
He → urge → influence
On Friday night, after recalling Canada’s negotiators, Carney released a statement saying: “We have recognised from the beginning that America has changed, and that we will not return to our old relationship.
asserted
we → recall → relationship
Our government understood, before many, that America is altering all its trade relationships.
asserted
America → understand → relationships
Although negotiators had tried to work with the U.S., he wrote, Canada’s core economic strategy has been on building Canada’s economy and diversifying economic partnerships.
asserted
strategy → try → partnerships
He noted that Canada is creating jobs at four times the rate of the United States.
asserted
Canada → note → States
“Canada has what the world wants,” he wrote, “And we will not allow any nation to determine our future.”
asserted
nation → have → future
In an address to Canadians on Saturday, Carney said: “Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us.
asserted
they → say → us
And I promised: ‘That will never, ever happen.’
asserted
That → promise → ?
We are keeping that promise.”
asserted
We → keep → promise
“Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America.
asserted
Canada → become → America
We are already giving ourselves more than they can take away.
asserted
they → give → more
…and 33 more, not listed.
