AI Summary
5 min readCanada’s former trade minister, Mary Ng, spent years negotiating the very free trade agreement now being violated by the U.S. administration. In this conversation, she explains why the tariffs are unjustified, who actually pays for them, and why the U.S.-Canada relationship has changed—perhaps permanently.
Why the USMCA Isn’t Stopping the Tariffs
The United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), negotiated and hailed as a “great deal” by President Trump during his first term, was supposed to ensure tariff-free trade across North America. Yet the Trump administration has imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian exports—steel, aluminum, and automobiles—in retaliation for Canada’s own retaliatory tariffs on a similar volume of U.S. imports. Ng argues that these tariffs violate the USMCA outright. “What is the purpose of a free trade agreement if one government can suddenly impose 50% tariffs against the other anyway?” she asks. The agreement was designed to give businesses and workers predictability; when those rules change arbitrarily, the people who bear the brunt are the ones the agreement was supposed to serve.
Who Actually Pays the Tariff
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Trade War Erupts** - The USMCA, hailed as a blueprint for North American strength, is pushed to the brink by escalating U.S.-Canada tariffs.
- 2 (01:23) **Surprise at the Breakdown** - Ng expresses dismay that a negotiated deal collapsed, calling tariffs harmful to both economies.
- 3 (02:32) **Why the USMCA Isn't Stopping the Tariffs** - Ng argues the Trump administration's tariffs violate the USMCA, a deal Trump himself negotiated and called "great."
- 4 (04:13) **The Purpose of a Trade Agreement** - Ng emphasizes that trade deals are meant to provide predictable rules for businesses, not to be ignored.
- 5 (04:56) **Is the Relationship Fair?** - Ng counters the claim that Canada has been "ripping off" the U.S., describing a deeply integrated supply chain.
- 6 (06:30) **Addressing Canadian Trade Barriers** - Ng acknowledges Canadian supply management (e.g., dairy) but insists the U.S. already gained more access in negotiations.
- 7 (07:23) **Tariffs 101: Who Actually Pays?** - Ng clearly explains that the American importer pays the tariff, not Canada, making it a tax on Americans.
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Show Notes
The United States and Canada share the longest undefended border in the world, deeply integrated supply chains — and a free-trade agreement that President Donald Trump negotiated himself during his first term and called a great deal. Now, these longtime allies are locked in an escalating trade war, with 50% tariffs on $20 billion in Canadian goods and Canada retaliating dollar for dollar.
Mary Ng served as Canada's minister of international trade from 2018 to 2025. She spent years in the room where U.S.-Canada trade deals were made. In this episode of "Deseret Voices," she sits down with Jane Clayson Johnson to answer the questions Americans and Canadians are asking right now.
In this conversation:
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Why Canada says these tariffs violate the USMCA — the very agreement Trump signed
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Who really pays when a 50% tariff is imposed on a Canadian product (hint: it's not Canada)
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How U.S.-Canada supply chains are so integrated that punishing one side hurts the other
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The energy leverage most Americans don't know about — Canada supplies up to 90% of US natural gas, up to 70% of American oil, and up to 80% of US electricity
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What the "elbows up" buy-Canadian movement tells us about where Canadian public sentiment is heading
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The dairy trade dispute — and the fact that the U.S. has never used its full market allocation
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Whether this trade war could last months or even years, and who blinks first
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A Depression-era law, Section 338, being invoked for the first time in nearly 100 years
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The story of Gander, Newfoundland — the tiny Canadian town that welcomed thousands of stranded Americans on Sept. 11, 2001 — and what it says about the relationship these two countries are putting at risk
This is not a conversation about winners and losers. It is a conversation about what happens when neighbors stop trusting each other — and what it will take to find a path forward.
“Deseret Voices” is hosted by award-winning journalists McKay Coppins and Jane Clayson Johnson, who go beyond the headli
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