The Canada-U.S. trade relationship lurched through another turbulent week, with President Donald Trump predicting a deal could arrive “fairly soon” — even as formal negotiations remain broken down and new tariffs take hold on both sides of the border.
Trump made his comments while fielding reporters’ questions in Ireland alongside Taoiseach Micheál Martin, responding to a question about whether he was considering withdrawing from the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, known as CUSMA. His remarks combined a note of optimism with familiar grievances. “The United States has been ripped off for 50 years by Canada,” he said. “We don’t need their product, and they need our product.” The claim sits uneasily alongside the numbers: according to U.S. Census Bureau data, Canada exported US$382 billion in goods to the United States in 2025 and imported US$334 billion in return. A TD Bank report found that in 2024, Canada ranked as the United States’ second-largest trading partner overall, and that 34 American states sell more goods to Canada than to any other foreign economy.
The broader picture of where negotiations stand is worth laying out clearly.
Trump also drew an unusual parallel on Saturday, grouping Canada alongside Iran as countries that “want to make a deal,” and expressing hope that “Canada appreciates being in the same sentence with Iran.” CTV News political commentator Scott Reid, who served as communications director to former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, said the comparison “really speaks to the destructive nature of Donald Trump’s foreign policy” and that Canada is now being treated “expressly as an enemy.” Reid suggested the remark could harden Canadian public opinion against accepting a deal on American terms.
Diamond Isinger, a policy and advocacy strategist who advised former prime minister Justin Trudeau during the original NAFTA renegotiation, captured the broader mood. “It’s hard to keep up with the ups and downs of the Canada-U.S. dynamic right now,” she said. While she acknowledged a slight easing of tensions, she cautioned that simply returning to the table on the same terms that existed before talks broke down would not be enough. Any resumption of serious negotiations, she argued, would require the United States to bring genuinely new offers — because Canadians would not accept the positions that were on the table just weeks ago. Whether Washington is prepared to move remains, for now, an open question.
