From left, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and President Donald Trump arrive for the family photograph during the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, June 16, 2025. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)
WASHINGTON — Canada’s announcement it will recognize a Palestinian state “will make it very hard” for the United States to reach a trade agreement with its northern neighbor, President Donald Trump said.
Trump’s threat, posted early Thursday on his social media platform, is the latest way he has sought to use his trade war to coerce countries on unrelated issues. And when other allies had raised the matter of Palestinian statehood, the Republican president had been ambivalent.
He said this week that he did not mind that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was taking the position that the United Kingdom would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza, allowed the United Nations to bring in aid and took other steps toward long-term peace. Last week, the Republican president said French President Emmanuel Macron’s similar move was “not going to change anything.”
But Trump, who has heckled Canada for months and suggested it should become its 51st U.S. state, is now indicating that Prime Minister Mark Carney’s similar recognition would become leverage before a looming deadline that the American leader set in U.S.-Canada trade talks.
“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” Trump said in his Truth Social post. “That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!”
Trump has threatened to impose a 35% tariff on Canada if no deal is reached by Friday, when he’s said he will levy tariffs against goods from dozens of countries if they don’t reach agreements with the U.S.
A spokesperson for Carney declined comment Thursday.
Some imports from Canada are still protected by the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which is up for renegotiation next year.
Carney’s announcement Wednesday comes amid a broader global shift against Israel’s policies in Gaza.
Though Trump this week said he was “not going to take a position” on recognizing a Palestinian state, he later said that such a move would be rewarding Hamas, whose surprise Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel prompted a declaration of war and a massive military retaliation from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump’s new cudgel against Canada comes after he sought this week to impose steep tariffs on Brazil because it indicted former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who like the U.S. president has faced criminal charges for attempting to overturn the results of his election loss.
Citing a personal grievance in trade talks with Brazil and now Canada’s symbolic announcement on a Palestinian state adds to the jumble of reasons Trump has pointed to for his trade war, such as stopping human trafficking, stopping the flow of fentanyl, balancing the budget and protecting U.S. manufacturing.
Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
