Trump threatens trade deal after Canada moves towards recognising Palestine

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United States President Donald Trump has said it will be difficult to make a trade deal with Canada after it announced that it would back Palestinian statehood, following the examples of the United Kingdom and France amid growing international condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza.

“Wow! Canada has just announced that it is backing statehood for Palestine. That will make it very hard for us to make a Trade Deal with them. Oh’ Canada!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Thursday. Canadian Prime Minster Mark Carney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s post comes a day after Carney announced that Canada is planning to recognise the State of Palestine at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in September if certain conditions are met, following recent announcements by France and the UK.

Canada and the US are working on negotiating a trade deal by August 1, the date Trump is threatening to impose a 35 percent tariff on all Canadian goods not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Carney said recognising Palestinian statehood was necessary to preserve hopes of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a longstanding Canadian goal that was “being eroded before our eyes”.

Carney added that Abbas would have to “hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarise the Palestinian state”, if Canada were to go ahead with recognition of this state.

The US has rejected moves to recognise a Palestinian state, saying the policy rewards Hamas. The Trump administration has been uncompromising in its support for Israel, despite accusations by UN experts and rights groups that the US ally is committing a genocide against Palestinians.

Trump himself has said that starvation was clearly taking place in Gaza, despite Israeli denials. His Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Israel on Thursday for ceasefire and aid talks.

With Wednesday’s announcement, Carney positioned Canada alongside France, after President Emmanuel Macron said his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during the same UN meeting.

The Israeli embassy in Ottawa said “recognising a Palestinian state in the absence of accountable government, functioning institutions, or benevolent leadership, rewards and legitimises the monstrous barbarity of Hamas on October 7, 2023”.

Carney stressed that Canada has been an unwavering member of the group of nations that hoped a two-state solution “would be achieved as part of a peace process built around a negotiated settlement between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority”.

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