Trump abruptly cuts off trade talks with Canada

US President Donald Trump has abruptly cut off trade talks with Canada over its tax targeting US technology firms, calling it a “blatant attack”.

The move on Friday, local time, plunged US-Canada relations back into chaos after a period of relative calm that included a cordial G7 meeting in mid-June where Mr Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agreed to wrap up a new economic agreement within 30 days.

It also came just hours after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent struck an upbeat tone on trade, touting that progress had been made with China on reviving the flow of critical minerals for the US manufacturing sector, and in other key tariff negotiations.

The often-chaotic rollout of Mr Trump’s import levies since his return to office this year has frequently whipsawed financial markets, and has begun to weigh on consumer spending, the bedrock of the US economy.

US stocks were briefly batted lower by his broadside against Canada, but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq managed to close out the week at record highs.

Mr Trump’s action comes ahead of Canada’s plans to begin collecting on Monday a previously enacted digital services tax on US technology firms, including Amazon, Meta, Alphabet’s Google and Apple, among others.

The tax is 3 per cent of the digital services revenue a firm takes in from Canadian users above $US20 million ($30 million) in a calendar year, and payments will be retroactive to 2022.

Mr Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media platform, called the tax “a direct and blatant attack on our country” and said Canada was a “very difficult country to TRADE with”.

“We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven-day period.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House, Mr Trump said that the negotiations with Canada would not resume “until they straighten out their act,” adding that the US holds “such power over Canada”.

Canada is the second-largest US trading partner after Mexico, and the largest buyer of US exports. It bought $US349.4 billion of US goods last year and exported $US412.7 billion to the US, according to US Census Bureau data.

Mr Carney’s office responded to Mr Trump’s announcement by saying: “The Canadian government will continue to engage in these complex negotiations with the United States in the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses.”

Mr Bessent sought to downplay the US-Canadian dispute in a CNBC interview, saying US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer would likely open a Section 301 probe into Canada’s digital tax that would clear the way for tariff retaliation in the amount of harm to US firms, which he said was roughly $US2 billion.

The US has prepared similar retaliation against European countries that have imposed digital taxes. A USTR spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wrapped up by Labor Day

Earlier on Friday, Mr Bessent said the Trump administration’s various trade deals with other countries could be done by the September 1 Labor Day holiday, citing talks with 18 top trade partners and another revision to a deal with China to reopen the flow of rare earth minerals and magnets.

After a week where tariffs took a back seat to the US strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and the massive tax and spending bill in the US Congress, the Trump administration’s trade negotiations have picked up.

The US sent a new proposal to the European Union on Thursday and India sent a delegation to Washington for more talks.

“So we have countries approaching us with very good deals,” Mr Bessent said on Fox Business Network.

“We have 18 important trading partners. … If we can ink 10 or 12 of the important 18, there are another important 20 relationships, then I think we could have trade wrapped up by Labor Day,” Mr Bessent said.

He did not mention any changes to a July 9 deadline for countries to reach deals with the US or see tariffs spike higher, but Mr Trump said at the White House that he could extend the tariff deadline or “make it shorter”.

Mr Trump said that he would notify countries of their tariff rates within the next week and a half, adding: “I’d like to just send letters out to everybody: Congratulations. You’re paying 25 per cent.”

New US-China export revisions

Mr Bessent said the US and China had resolved issues surrounding shipments of Chinese rare earth minerals and magnets to America, further modifying a deal reached in May in Geneva.

As part of its retaliation against new US tariffs, China suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, up-ending supply chains central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.

During US-China talks in May in Geneva, Beijing committed to removing the measures imposed since April 2, but those critical materials were not moving as fast as agreed, Mr Bessent said, so the US put countermeasures in place.

“I am confident now that … as agreed, the magnets will flow,” Mr Bessent said, adding that these materials would go to US firms that had received them previously on a regular basis.

He later said that the US would begin shipping withheld materials to China when the rare earths shipments resumed.

China’s Commerce Ministry said on Friday the two countries have confirmed details on the framework of implementing the Geneva trade talks consensus.

It said China will approve export applications of controlled items in accordance with the law. It did not mention rare earths.

Trump administration officials also held trade talks on Friday with India and Japan, two other countries in advanced negotiations with the US.

The Japanese government said in a statement that the two sides will continue to work to “reach an agreement that benefits both Japan and the United States”.

Reuters