Canada-U.S. Relations Continue to Reach Lows Over Tariffs and Annexation Threats

President Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s televised berating of President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine suggests that things could be worse between Canada and the U.S.

Sam Hudson, a tailor in Ottawa, urges other Canadians to fly the flag as a response to President Trump’s tariff threats and calls to annex Canada.Credit…Ian Austen/The New York Times

But when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau steps down in a few days, his successor will face the worst relations between the U.S. and Canada since the trade war of the Great Depression. Arguably they are nearing a nadir not seen since the 19th century.

After a week of confusing signals from the White House, Mr. Trump said he was committed to imposing potentially devastating 25 percent tariffs on most exports from Canada except oil and gas, which face a 10 percent tax.

[Read: Trump Says Canada and Mexico Tariffs Will Go Into Effect Next Week]

If we recall when Mr. Trump first started proposing tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which now seems a very long time ago, he had two justifications. He insisted that the U.S. was being overrun by migrants and poisoned with fentanyl coming across the borders with the country’s two major trading partners.

Mr. Trudeau’s government responded with a 1.3 billion Canadian dollar package of measures to fortify the border. He named a “fentanyl czar,” gave the Mounties two Black Hawk helicopters to fly along the border, assigned a large number of their officers to border patrol and bought a variety of surveillance devices, including drones.