US President Trump says Canada has been ripping off the US for decades; Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable country to deal with
Full Post: "Canada has been “Ripping Off” the U.S.A. for decades. They have been charging our Farmers 400% Tariffs, and more. They have driven many wonderful U.S. companies out of business. For 10 years they wouldn’t certify Gulfstream Jets, until I got involved. They wanted 100% of the market for Gulfstream’s Canadian competitor. I deal with many countries, and Canada is easily the most difficult and unreasonable. They feel entitled, but they are not a State, and will be entitled no longer! President DJT"
Rhetoric of this kind from the President on Canada fits an established pattern in which escalating public grievance against a trade partner precedes formal action: tariff threats, sector-specific levies, or renegotiation demands, typically delivered first through social media and only later through official channels. The historical sequence in comparable episodes has been an initial risk-off move in the affected bilateral pair, CAD here, followed by differentiation depending on whether concrete measures follow or the rhetoric proves to be a negotiating posture ahead of talks. The specific references, agricultural tariffs and aircraft certification disputes, point to long-running friction points rather than new ground, and episodes centred on familiar grievances have tended to resolve through negotiated carve-outs more often than through sustained escalation. The actors matter: this President's prior form is to pair maximalist language with subsequent dealmaking, which is why desks have historically faded the first move absent a policy document. The distinction worth drawing is between rhetoric alone and a named tariff rate or effective date; only the latter has durably repriced CAD, Canadian rate expectations, or the trade-exposed equity sectors. Worth watching is any follow-through from the trade representative or commerce apparatus, and whether Ottawa responds with reciprocal measures, which is the point at which past episodes have shifted from noise to a genuine bilateral shock.