Trump has singled out us Canadians for special treatment in his tariff war – there is no choice but to get nasty | Matt Gurney

The White House fails to understand that Mark Carney and Canada's regional leaders can't cave in to the US president: it's too toxic to voters

Matt Gurney is a journalist based in Toronto

Though many hate to admit it, Canadians have long wished for more attention from the US. Well, we're getting it now. And it turns out that President Trump and some of his top supporters in the Maga movement don't much like us.

The first big hint was when he started talking about annexing us, saying we couldn't survive without American support. But the most recent example of Trump's dislike for Canada can be seen in his latest tariff policies. Canada was largely spared the impact of his Liberation Day" tariffs in April 2025 by its pre-existing free trade deal with the US (and Mexico), but earlier this month, as expected, the US declined to extend that deal for another 16-year term. It's now subject to annual renegotiations. Then, last week, the White House announced tariffs as high as 50% on a selection of Canadian products including, for the first time, items previously protected by the trade agreement. The US called it retaliation for Canadian trade practices.

Matt Gurney is a journalist based in Toronto, and co-editor of The Line, an online magazine