‘Childish bullying’: Nova Scotia premier slams Trump for latest tariff threat

How would a possible increase in U.S. tariffs impact the Maritimes?

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston is slamming U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to strike Canada with a 35 per cent blanket import tariff on Aug. 1, calling it “childish bullying.”

“We have been here before. In fact, the bullying behaviour has been constant under this administration,” said Houston in a news release Friday.

“Millions of workers, consumers and businesses on both sides of the border are suffering by the illegal, unnecessary actions of one man.”

Trump shared the threat in a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney on his Truth Social platform. He wrote: “if for any reason you decide to raise your tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 35 per cent that we charge.”

Robert Huish, a professor of international development studies at Dalhousie University, said he doesn’t think the move was well planned.

“Trump really sees himself as Michelangelo, but his tool kit is really a box of Crayolas,” Huish said. “He thinks he’s got this grand vision of how he can reformat US economics and thereby global economics.”

Huish said tariffs don’t work and only slow business down.

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with and you just don’t know what the environment is going to look like tomorrow when we wake up from a regulatory framework,” said CEO of the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce Rhonda Tulk-Lane. “It makes it really, really hard for businesses to make those long-term decisions and investments.”

Tulk-Lane said the chamber is helping businesses explore new markets.

“We have a program right now called the market entry development program that helps them diversify,” she said. “So for any small business that is out there right now or medium business that are exporting, and they really need to look at a diverse market, look at Europe, given the insert city, we’ve got a program open right now to help them.”

Tulk-Lane said they were working with chambers of commerce in the U.S. to mitigate the effects of a trade war she says “nobody wins.”

Trump claimed the tariffs were originally imposed on Canada because of the U.S. fentanyl crisis, which he said was partly due to “Canada’s failure to stop the drugs from pouring into our country.”

“If Canada works with me to stop the flow of fentanyl, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,” Trump wrote. “These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your country.”

Houston says the latest tariff threat comes at a time when Canada is working in “good faith” to reach a trade deal.

“This type of childish bullying is no way to treat a neighbour, friend and ally. It’s exactly why Canadians are not buying U.S. products and cancelling trips to the U.S.,” said Houston. “And it’s why Nova Scotia’s measures around booze and procurement remain in place.”

Nova Scotia has pulled all American-produced liquor from its store shelves while the two countries are engaged in a trade war.

Meanwhile, federal data shows travel between Canada and the United States continues to fall this summer.

Houston says, if there’s a silver lining to the political turmoil, it’s that it has made Canada stronger as a nation.

“Nova Scotia stands with Team Canada. We will continue to work harder to buy local, find new trading partners and remove the internal trade barriers that have held us back in the past,” said the premier.

Carney has said he will convene his cabinet to talk trade on Tuesday. He is set to meet with Canada’s premiers the following week.

“Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses,” Carney said on social media. “We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1.”

Despite the instability caused by on-again, off-again tariff talk, Stats Canada says the country added 83,000 jobs in June. A little more than half was part-time, private sector employment.

Unemployment saw a slight rise in the Maritimes.

With files from CTV Calgary’s Stephen Hunt and CTVNews.ca Staff

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page