For Canada, the best deal is no deal. Because we're not going to be America's Guam North

Canada reached its gag limit with these jerks. 

I know it might be terrible news for our industrial workers and manufacturers, but Canada now understands that Free Trade is dead, at least until Trump is.

Actually, I think what we just turned down wasn't a Free Trade deal at all - what the United States actually wanted is for Canada to turn itself into Guam North. That's where all their last-minute insertions about alliances and alignments and cooperation and partnerships would have pushed us. 

That deal would have crushed us. We might end up crushed anyway, but at least its on our own terms. Maître Chez Nous.

And considering everything happening in the US right now - they seem to be sliding into a pit of despair, chaos, fascism, and bankruptcy - this may actually turn out to be one of the bravest and best decisions Canada ever made.

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The Globe and Mail - which is using a Second-Coming typeface for its webpage - writes:

Trade negotiations between Canada and the United States fell apart late Friday just minutes before a midnight deadline, meaning U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration will go ahead with new 50-per-cent tariffs on US$20-billion worth of goods and Canada will respond with new tariffs of its own.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a statement that while important progress was made during the trade talks, he said he has decided to suspend trade negotiations and directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa.
“They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute. However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal,” he said.
“At midnight tonight, the U.S. intends to impose a 50 per cent tariff on roughly $28-billion of Canadian goods. Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses. In the coming days, the government will introduce additional measures to support Canadian workers and businesses, building on the nearly $25-billion in support provided over the past 18 months,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who had avoided commenting in public this week on the trade talks, expressed his support for the Prime Minister’s plans for retaliation.
“Team Canada needs to stand together more united than ever before,” he said in a post on social media. “The prime minister has my full support for a strong response—tariff for tariff, dollar for dollar. As we fight to protect Canadian sovereignty and economic security, everything needs to be on the table. Ontario is ready to do its part.”...

Read the whole article - that is a gift link if you need it.

Here is Carney's statement:

And So It Is War! Statement by Prime Minister Carney on Canada-U.S. trade negotiations August 21, 2026 Ottawa, Ontario “Over the past 18 months, Canada’s new government has focused on building our strength at home, diversifying our partnerships abroad, and striking a fair deal with the United States. Our objectives in our trade negotiations have been to: Preserve tariff-free access to the U.S. for the vast majority of Canadian business; Provide greater stability to our trade relationship; Significantly reduce U.S. tariffs on our key strategic industries, so that Canadian businesses in these sectors would have the best access of any in the world; Protect our small and medium-sized businesses – the lifeblood of our economy – including by removing the imminent threat of new tariffs; and Maintain our flexibility, independence, and sovereignty so we can keep building the Canada we want. We have recognised from the beginning that America has changed, and that we will not return to our old relationship. Our government understood, before many, that America is altering all its trade relationships. Putting tariffs on its closest allies and charging for access to its vast market. We have worked in that context. To strike a fair deal that would provide the best access to the U.S. market and greater certainty to Canadian businesses and workers. Throughout, our goal has been to secure the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any deadline. In recent weeks, we made important progress toward improving Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S. However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians. As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa. They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute. However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal. At midnight tonight, the U.S. intends to impose a 50% tariff on roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods. Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses. In the coming days, the government will introduce additional measures to support Canadian workers and businesses, building on the nearly $25 billion in support provided over the past 18 months. These actions complement Canada’s core economic strategy. From day one, we have been focused on building our strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad. That strategy is working. We are advancing nearly $500 billion in major infrastructure projects. In parallel, we are unlocking new export markets for Canadian businesses. Our existing free trade deals already provide Canada with preferential access to 1.5 billion consumers, and we are on track to double that market access by the end of this year. Canadian economic growth is accelerating, and we are on course to have the second-fastest growth in the G7 over the next two years. Our economy is creating jobs at four times the rate of the United States. Our exports to non-U.S. markets are on track to double over the next decade. Foreign direct investment in Canada is at its highest level in two decades, running at twice the rate of our nearest G7 competitor. Canada now ranks as the most attractive country in the world for infrastructure investment. Canada has what the world wants. And we will not allow any nation to determine our future. We will set our own course to keep building Canada strong for all.”

- Wayne Horton

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And here is how the United States described what we turned down -- it really sounded to me like they think Canada should just be another Guam or Puerto Rico.

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Is this elbows-up enough for y’all?

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— Holly Hoye 🇨🇦 (@hollyhoye.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 9:58 PM

I found a few reactions from politicians




From the Canadian Labour Congress

From Andrew Coyne

And, of course, from this guy

Take a deep breath, everyone. You’re about to have the uncomfortable experience of agreeing with Jason Kenney again.

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— Holly Hoye 🇨🇦 (@hollyhoye.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 10:41 PM

More reactions:

21 days before the 25th anniversary of September 11th, the United States imposes 50% tariffs on the country that gave its citizens refuge during the worst terrorist attack in US history.

— David Cochrane (@davidwcochrane.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 9:57 PM

It is February 2025. I am watching the US impose a bunch of stupid tariffs on Canada. It is March 2025. I am watching the US impose a bunch of stupid tariffs on Canada. It is July 2025. I am watching the US impose a bunch of stupid tariffs on Canada. It is August 2026. I am watching the US impose a

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— Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 (@josephpolitano.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 10:14 PM

The US decision to launch a trade war against Canada while it is in the midst of a foolish war with Iran, while China is laughing at its weakness, while the deficit is exploding and bond markets are calling BS... shows that the US government is not acting in US national interest.

— Phillips OBrien (@phillipspobrien.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 10:51 PM

Washington Is Fighting Everyone Except Its Own Arithmetic Start with the facts. US national debt passed 40 trillion dollars this week. The July deficit alone was 432 billion, worsened by courts striking down tariffs and forcing refunds. Thirty-year Treasury yields hit a 19-year high, meaning investors now demand more to lend America money, and the Treasury has doubled its bond buybacks to calm the market. Here is why that matters. American borrowing has always rested on the world’s need for dollars, built on oil priced in dollars since the 1970s. But sanctions and Hormuz disruption are pushing more energy trade toward yuan and non-dollar channels. Less dollar demand means higher borrowing costs for a country that already spends more on interest than on health insurance. Into this, Washington launches a 50 percent trade war against Canada, its closest trading partner. That is not strategy.

- Gandalv

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seriously though, Canada should target swing senate states with the retaliatory tariffs. Iowa, Maine, Ohio, Texas, Michigan, Kansas, Alaska, and Nebraska all need to understand the economic pain that our senile piece of shit president has unleashed

— Sam (@samd.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 10:28 PM

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sigh. it’s the right call if Trump wasn’t going to meaningfully drop the existing US trade war tariffs regardless of how many concessions we offered, but it’s wild to think that soon we’ll be nostalgically thinking about the past year as ‘the good times’ economically

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— Alex (@purplechrain.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 10:04 PM

Good. I mean, also very bad, because this is going to cause a LOT of economic pain for Canadians and we'll need to work together to help those most affected. But we can't trust this administration or the kind of concessions they were apparently seeking. No deal is better than a bad deal.

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— Stephen Geigen-Miller (@stephengm.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 9:55 PM

Didn't this turn out to be prescient?

THE THING THAT gives me the greatest comfort as we wait for details of “the deal” is that Trump and Vance have been gloating about the great deal they’ve gotten from Canada, and how Trump “schooled” Carney. Just as they’ve done repeatedly about the great deal they’ve forced on the Iranian regime. Their gloat is always greatest before the fall.

- Mark Towhey

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Dean Blundell got it exactly right a week ago

- Kier Atkinson 🇨🇦

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Last word:

Of all the weeks in Canadian history, this has definitely been one of them.

— Aaron Wherry (@aaronwherry.bsky.social) August 21, 2026 at 10:37 PM