Trump didn’t threaten Canada’s sovereignty. Carney just handed it to Beijing

Published September 8, 2026 8:00am ET



Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says the United States asked Canada to surrender its sovereignty during trade negotiations that his government recently abandoned in dramatic fashion. The reality is exactly the opposite: Washington was asking Canada to do more to protect its own steel industry.

The U.S. reportedly wanted Canada to match the strong measures America has adopted to keep unfairly traded steel out of its market. That isn’t surrendering sovereignty. The U.S. and its allies, including Canada, have worked for years to develop trade policies protecting our countries from nonmarket economies such as China.

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