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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that Canada’s close economic ties with the United States have become a “weakness” that must be corrected.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: It’s no secret that relations between Canada and the US have deteriorated sharply since Trump returned to office in 2025. Trump has been floating the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state for months now, slapped tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, and auto exports, and threatened to pull out of the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which is up for review in July. For decades, Canada has been heavily reliant on the US and ships about 70% of everything it exports down to America, making the tariff war a direct threat to its economy. Carney’s Liberal Party locked in a majority government a couple weeks back, running largely on a promise to push back against Washington, which a lot of Canadians feel has been unfairly hostile toward them.

What’s going on now: In a 10-minute video address released Sunday, Carney told Canadians the country can no longer afford to depend on a single trade partner and signaled a broader shift in Canada’s economic strategy. He said, “The US has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression. Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become weaknesses…. weaknesses that we must correct.”

Carney pointed out that Canada has locked in around 20 trade agreements across four different continents in under a year, and recently struck a deal letting 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada at a slashed tariff rate, with Beijing agreeing in return to cut its own tariffs on Canadian canola, seafood, and other farm goods.

During his statement Carney also pulled out a miniature toy soldier of General Isaac Brock, a British general killed in 1812 while fighting off American troops trying to take over the land that eventually became Canada, telling Canadians, “the situation today feels unique, but we’ve faced down threats like this before.”

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick fired back, calling Canada a difficult trading partner and dismissing its China strategy.

This all comes as the USMCA review deadline hits in July, with US officials signaling they want major changes to the pact and Trump’s trade representative warning the US could pull out entirely if it doesn’t get what it wants. The agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada involves roughly $1.93 trillion in annual goods and services trade, represents 30% of global GDP, and covers a market of over 500 million people.