U.S. President Donald Trump said he spoke to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the morning of Feb. 3 and called for U.S. banks to have more access to the Canadian market.
In a post on his platform Truth Social around 9 a.m., Trump said he “just spoke” to Trudeau and that the two would speak later that day at 3 p.m.
Trump started his post by criticizing Canada’s banking sector, which he said is governed by rules making it harder for foreign banks to operate.
“Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about?” Trump said, signalling an intent to have Canada grant more access to U.S. financial institutions. While U.S. banks have limited involvement in personal banking in Canada, some of them do offer commercial and investment services.
Canada’s banking sector is mostly dominated by the “Big Six” banks, some of which like TD Bank have a sizeable market share in the United States.
Trump said in addition to the banking sector, there are “many such things” he sees as imbalanced between the countries, while adding “it’s also a DRUG WAR, and hundreds of thousands of people have died in the U.S. from drugs pouring through the Borders of Mexico and Canada.”
Related Stories
Trump has linked his decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico over the weekend to how the two countries deal with drug smuggling and illegal migration.
Trudeau responded by announcing $155 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States, with an initial $30 billon imposed on Feb. 4 when the U.S. tariffs kick in. An additional $125 billion in tariffs are scheduled to be imposed by Canada in late February.
Trump and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum each announced on the morning of Feb. 3 that tariffs on Mexico would be delayed for one month as Mexico deploys 10,000 soldiers at the border to stem the flow of drugs and migrants.
In a post on X, Sheinbaum said she had a “good conversation” with Trump regarding the countries’ relationship and sovereignty, and that a deal was reached for Mexico to deploy troops, while the United States would prevent the trafficking of “high-powered” weapons to Mexico.
Trump on his side described the conversation as “friendly” in a Truth Social post and said negotiations between the countries will start in order to “achieve a ‘deal’” between them.
Meanwhile, a Trump official said Mexico was being reactive to U.S. demands while Canada “misunderstood” the tariff threat as a trade war.
“Canadians appear to have misunderstood the plain language of the executive order and they’re interpreting it as a trade war,” Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on CNBC on Feb. 3.
“The good news is that in our conversations over the weekend, one of the things we’ve noticed is that Mexicans are very, very serious about doing what President Trump said,” Hassett added.
Canada has announced a $1.3 billion border security plan in mid-December, which includes the deployment of new surveillance and detection equipment at the border.
Reuters contributed to this report.
