President Trump said early Thursday that Canada’s move to recognize a Palestinian state impedes progress on trade talks, just one day ahead of Trump’s Aug. 1 tariff deadline.
“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social shortly after midnight.
“That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” he added.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement Wednesday that his country intends to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2025. The move would be predicated on several significant commitments, including that the Palestinian Authority would hold elections in 2026 that would preclude participation by Hamas, which has governed the Gaza Strip since June 2007.
Carney’s announcement follows similar announcements from the United Kingdom and France, as world leaders face public pressure to respond to viral images of starving children in Gaza, amid a worsening humanitarian situation.
The Trump administration had admonished the effort. On Monday, the State Department said the U.S. would not participate in any initiative to support a two-state solution to end the Israel-Hamas war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier this week pushed back on French President Emmanuel Macron, claiming the decision is harmful to ceasefire talks.
The pressure also comes as Trump prepares to hit some major U.S. trading partners with steep tariffs, if they don’t agree to the new U.S. trading terms by the Aug. 1 deadline.
The president has also threatened to levy a 35 percent tariff on Canadians goods that are not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement.
“We haven’t really had a lot of luck with Canada,” he said last week. “I think Canada could be one where they’ll just pay tariffs. It’s not really a negotiation.”
