Trade tension in North America has reached a critical point. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney launched a national campaign under the slogan 'Buy Canadian' in a direct response to U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to impose 100% tariffs on all Canadian exports. The escalation comes after the recent signing of a trade agreement between Ottawa and Beijing, which Trump called a 'betrayal' that turns Canada into a 'backdoor' for Beijing's products. In a video released on Saturday, the prime minister (who took office after Justin Trudeau stepped down in 2025) appealed to economic nationalism in what he sees as a strategic vulnerability: 'We cannot control what other nations do. But we can be our own best customers. We will buy Canadian products,' Carney stated. He also responded sharply to Trump's comments at the Davos Forum, where the American asserted that 'Canada lives thanks to the United States.' Carney retorted: 'Canada does not live thanks to the United States; Canada prospers because we are Canadians.' This crisis occurs months before the scheduled review of the USMCA, the trade agreement that unites the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. Trump's aggressiveness, who even suggested on social media that Canada should be the '51st state,' casts doubt on the survival of the world's largest trading bloc. While the Canadian government seeks to diversify its exports to Europe and Asia, the call to 'buy local' aims to shield the domestic economy from a possible complete closure of the world's longest trade border.
