U.S., Canada Face Sept. 7 Trade Deadline as Tariff Fight Exposes Power Imbalance

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Sep 2

Sept. 7 is the deadline for Washington and Ottawa to strike a new trade deal or trigger what the report describes as crippling sanctions on both sides.
Gary Mar, head of the Canada West Foundation and a former Alberta trade minister, said the dispute is deeply asymmetrical because Canada is far more politically and economically exposed to a tariff war.
Canada has treated the clash as a national crisis—with consumer boycotts of U.S. goods and broad political unity behind Prime Minister Mark Carney—while the issue has drawn far less public attention in the United States.
Mar argued the biggest imbalance is economic scale: the U.S. has far greater capacity to absorb pain and retaliate, making a tit-for-tat tariff battle especially risky for Canada.
If talks collapse, the fallout could extend beyond midterm politics by pushing Canada to deepen ties with alternative partners such as China and other energy markets.