'Unhinged' for Canada to call dispute with U.S. a trade war, says Trump's tariff chief

'Unhinged' for Canada to call dispute with U.S. a trade war, says Trump's tariff chief

In interview with Financial Times, Jamieson Greer says Canadians have 'whipped up' dispute into 'giant thing'

U.S. President Donald Trump's top trade official says it's "unhinged" for Canadian leaders to characterize the administration's tariffs as a trade war against Canada.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Jamieson Greer downplayed the significance of the recently imposed 50 per cent U.S. tariffs to the Canadian economy and chastised Prime Minister Mark Carney for how he has described the trade dispute.

"Prime Minister Carney used the term 'war.' It’s not a word we use, right? We don’t talk about it that way. For us, it’s business, it’s economics," Greer told the FT News Briefing podcast.

The tariffs that took effect in August apply to just five per cent of Canada's exports to the U.S., Greer said.

"To kind of have it whipped up into this giant thing, where we’re talking about war and economic attacks and all these things, it’s a little unhinged," he said.

The podcast was posted on Saturday, before Canada's retaliatory tariffs took effect on Tuesday; the U.S. quickly further responded with a plan to ban imports of Canadian alcohol, motorcycles and several food products, starting on Sept. 29.

Trump hits Canada with new tariffs and product import bans

Greer's office freshly amplified the podcast on Wednesday by sending a news release with links to the interview and excerpts of his comments.

"It is the Canadians that came out and said, 'this is a war, this is an economic attack,'" said Greer in the interview.

"We’re just putting additional fees on foreign goods made by foreign workers in foreign countries. That’s all a tariff is."

Trump banning import of Canadian booze, motorcycles, other goods into U.S.

Carney warns of tough times ahead in video message as retaliatory tariffs kick in

Greer indicated in the interview that he had presented options to Trump for responding to Canada's retaliatory tariffs and that the president "might pull the trigger."

Trump pulled that trigger on Tuesday evening by announcing the import ban, a plan to make Canadian companies ineligible for one U.S. government procurement program and some adjustments to the Canadian goods subject to the new 50 per cent tariff.

'Natural consequence' of Canada's retaliation

In a news release issued late Tuesday, Greer called the measures a "natural consequence" of Canada's trade tactics.

"Canada chose to embark on senseless retaliation against the United States," he said.

"Today's action [by Trump] is a natural consequence of Canada’s continued discriminatory treatment of crucial American exports, ranging from alcoholic beverages to dairy products to motor vehicles," Greer said.

Trump official mocks Canada, insists there's no trade war

Greer is not the first Trump cabinet member to reject "trade war" as a description of the Canada-U.S. dispute.

Asked in late August whether his country was in a trade war with Canada, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the question.

"We're not at war with Canada. How are we going to be at war with Canada?" Bessent replied.

Mike Crawley is a correspondent for CBC News, based in Washington. He began his career as a newspaper reporter in B.C., spent six years as a freelance journalist in various parts of Africa, then joined the CBC in 2005. Mike reported on Ontario politics for 15 years. He was born and raised in Saint John, N.B.