President Donald Trump has warned that Canada’s support for Palestinian statehood would make cutting a trade deal with its northern neighbor “very hard.”
As Trump’s self-imposed tariff deadline looms, the president blasted Canadian President Mark Carney’s decision to join the U.K. and France in announcing plans to recognize a Palestinian state in September.
“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early Thursday morning. “That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!”
Carney announced Wednesday that Canada has “long been committed to a two-state solution” that would see would see an independent Palestinian state “living side by side” with the state of Israel.
The move would further isolate the U.S. from key allies as international pressure grows over the starvation crisis in Gaza, fueled by Israel’s blockade of humanitarian aid.
Just hours earlier, the U.S. Senate rejected two resolutions introduced by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel. While the measures failed, more than half of Senate Democrats supported them, signaling a growing shift in Washington’s stance toward the war in Gaza.
Before Carney’s announcement, both the U.S. and Israel had previously criticized similar declarations by France and Britain, saying that they reward Hamas and do not help efforts to achieve a ceasefire.
As Trump threatened to blow up trade talks with Canada, his Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Israel on Wednesday, the White House confirmed to The Independent.
