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President Donald Trump said Sunday that Canadian companies are relocating to the United States in large numbers, escalating a trade dispute with Türkiye's northern neighbor that has already produced tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars in goods.
"Canadian businesses are pouring into the United States. We want to make our own cars, etc. That's what's going to happen," Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
He did not name any companies or provide figures on how much capital has moved across the border, and it remains unclear exactly which Canadian firms, if any, have begun relocation plans.
In a series of follow-up posts, Trump directly urged companies doing business in Canada to move their operations to the United States "immediately," promising that relocating firms would face "no tariffs."
He said many companies had previously left the U.S. for Canada because of "stupid" American leadership in the past, without elaborating.
The president said he no longer wants Canadian vehicles or components sold in the U.S. market and described Canada as "one of the worst abusers" of the United States.
"They want to be treated like a state, but they aren't one," he wrote, adding that he finds Canadian leadership more difficult to deal with than any other government in the world. He compared the case for trade action against Ottawa to his approach toward Iran on military matters, saying both situations should have been confronted by earlier U.S. administrations.
The remarks follow weeks of rapidly escalating trade measures between the two countries. On Aug. 22, the United States imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Trump has also directed that tariffs on all Canadian-made cars, trucks and steel rise to 50% starting Jan. 1, 2027.
The administration has said the increases are meant to address a U.S. trade deficit with Canada that Trump has put at more than $60 billion, and he has repeatedly encouraged manufacturers to shift production to the United States in exchange for "zero tariffs."
The Canada-U.S. trade relationship is one of the largest in the world, built over decades around integrated supply chains, particularly in the automotive sector, where parts and vehicles routinely cross the border multiple times during production under the framework of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has rejected the U.S. approach, calling the new tariffs a "miscalculation" and accusing Washington of trying to "hurt and divide" Canada. Carney said the country is "at war" over trade and announced that Canada will impose reciprocal tariffs on $20 billion worth of U.S. imports beginning Sept. 8.
Neither the White House nor Carney's office issued additional statements clarifying the scope of Trump's claims about relocating Canadian businesses.
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