She announced her resignation in a letter to Trudeau on Monday, in which she said the two have been “at odds about the best path forward for Canada”, and pointed to the “grave challenge” posed by Trump’s policy of “aggressive economic nationalism”.

Freeland said the decision comes after Trudeau informed her last week that he no longer wanted her to be his government’s top economic adviser.

Her resignation came hours before she was due to provide an annual fiscal government update in parliament.

In recent days, the two have also reportedly been in a dispute over a policy that would have delivered a C$250 ($175; £139) cheque to every eligible Canadian.

In her publicly-shared resignation letter, Freeland said Canada needs to keep its “fiscal powder dry” to deal with the threat of sweeping tariffs from US President-elect Donald Trump.

She added this means “eschewing costly political gimmicks” that Canada cannot afford.

Trump has promised to impose a levy of 25% on imported Canadian goods, which economists have warned would significantly hurt Canada’s economy.

Referencing the tariffs, Freeland called them a “threat” that needs to be taken “extremely seriously”.

She added that this means “pushing back against ‘America First’ economic nationalism” and working with unity in response to these tariff threats.

Freeland and Trudeau were reportedly in disagreement over a series of recently-proposed policies by the prime minister designed to address the country’s cost-of-living crisis.

Among them is a cheque of C$250 that the government wanted to send to every Canadian earning less than C$150,000 annually. These cheques were expected to cost the federal government a total of C$4.68bn.

Another is a temporary tax break on essential items during the holidays which is anticipated to cost C$1.6bn in lost tax revenue.

Freeland’s office had reportedly been concerned about the price of these two policies, saying they are economically unwise at a time when the country’s deficit is growing.

The tax holiday has since been approved in the House of Commons, but the C$250-cheques hit a hurdle when the New Democratic Party – a centre-left party in parliament – signalled it would not lend its support to the policy unless it is expanded.

A poll by the Angus Reid Institute showed that four out of five Canadians viewed the cheques as a political move designed to win public goodwill as Trudeau’s popularity plummets.

Freeland, who also holds the position of deputy prime minister, has long been one of Trudeau’s closest allies within his Liberal party. She has held the key role of Canada’s finance minister since 2020, helping to lead the country through the pandemic and its aftermath.

She replaced former Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who also resigned from his post amid a dispute with Trudeau over government spending policies, as well as conflict-of-interest allegations he faced involving a youth charity.

Other members of the Liberal party’s cabinet have since reacted to her resignation.

“These are difficult and deeply personal decisions and obviously she’s made that decision and I respect her for it,” said Patty Hajdu, Canada’s minister for indigenous relations.

Minister of Transport Anita Anand described Freeland as a “good friend,” and added: “This news has hit me really hard and I’ll reserve further comment until I have time to process it.”

It is unclear if the fall economic statement will be delivered on Monday as planned in light of Freeland’s resignation. A government official told Reuters news agency that the finance ministry is determining next steps.

Canada’s public broadcaster CBC reported that Freeland’s resignation was not expected today, citing a senior federal government source.

Freeland said she intends to stay on as a Liberal member of parliament, and that she will run again in Canada’s upcoming election, which must be held on or before October.

Her resignation comes after another cabinet member, housing minister Sean Fraser, announced he will not be seeking re-election, saying he wants to spend more time with his family.

Last week, Trump threatened he would impose a blanket 25% tariff on both countries when he takes office in January unless they secured their shared borders with the US.

Canadian officials were quick to distance their country’s border issues from those of Mexico, arguing that drug smuggling and unlawful crossings at the southern border were much higher, and that Mexico was serving as a “back door” in North America for Chinese investment.

Those remarks have not gone unnoticed in Mexico.Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told the Associated Press this week that “Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners”.

She added that Canada had its own social problems with fentanyl use, adding the country “could only wish they had the cultural riches Mexico has”.

Sheinbaum’s remarks came after Canada’s US ambassador, Kirsten Hillman, told the news agency that during a recent dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Florida residence, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the president-elect that the northern border was “vastly different than the Mexican border”.

Doug Ford, leader of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said last week that lumping Canada and Mexico together on border security – given the differences between the two boundaries – was “the most insulting thing” he has heard from the US, a long-time close ally of Canada.

Canadian officials have also tried to position the US and Canada as a united front against China, while saying they share concerns that China was using Mexico as a backdoor to flood the North American market with cheap imports.

In October, Canada imposed a 100% tariff on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles (EV) after similar announcements by the US and European Union.

The country also plans to impose a 25% duty on Chinese steel and aluminium.Mexico has not levied a similarly steep tariff.

At the moment, all three countries are under a North American trade agreement that was renegotiated during Trump’s first term. It is up for renegotiation again in 2026.

But tensions with China prompted Ford to repeatedly call for separate bilateral trade deals between Canada, the US and Mexico – a proposal that has been backed by Danielle Smith, leader of Canada’s oil-rich province of Alberta.

“They’ve had an opportunity to fix these concerns for years and they just don’t want to,” Ford said in late November.

Trudeau has said that while Canada preferred Mexico remain a united North American trade partner, “we may have to look at other options” if the country doesn’t address China trade.

Marta Leardi-Anderson, the executive director of the Cross-Border Institute at the University of Windsor – an Ontario city connected by a bridge to Detroit, Michigan – said Ford’s comments are likely a reflection of Ontario’s deep reliance on its US trade relationship.

The province is at the heart of the highly integrated auto industry in Canada, and trade between Ontario and the US totalled more than C$493bn ($350bn) in 2023.

“That’s a huge amount of economic energy from just one region of the country,” Ms Leardi-Anderson said.

She added that Trump’s views on tariffs and border security have forced Mexico and Canada – also long-time allies – to dissect the shortcomings in their relationship in ways they have not done before.

These comments were seen as a betrayal by Mexico’s lead trade negotiator, Gutierrez Romano, who told Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail last week that “it is not rational to be divided against the United States”.

Ford’s comments and Trudeau’s perceived silence about them were also seen as offensive by some of the Mexican public, says Oliver Santín Peña, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

“Ultimately, it is not a good time in the bilateral relationship [between Canada and Mexico],” Mr Peña said that noting the nations have enjoyed a steady relationship for 85 years.

He said Sheinbaum’s response signals that she will stand up for Mexico when needed, but she is likely not seeking to open a two-front trade war with Trump and Trudeau.

“She would not fall for provocations,” Mr Peña said, but also wants to communicate “that her country should be respected”.

Sheinbaum, who took office in October, is still establishing herself in the role and the country’s first woman president and has taken the position that Mexico is to be respected as a full and equal partner, particularly by its North American neighbours.

“I always will defend Mexico and Mexicans’ rights, including those based in the United States,” she said on the campaign trail when asked her about the possibility of working with a second Trump administration.

While both the northern and southern US borders have reported unlawful crossings and drug seizures, the numbers at the border with Canada are considerably lower than those at the Mexico border, according to official data.

US border agents have seized 43lbs (19.5kg) of fentanyl at the northern border between October 2023 and this September, compared to more than 21,000lbs at the southern border.

Over the same period, there were just under 200,000 migrant encounters at the northern border, and more than two million at the southern border.

Canada has promised to beef up border security since Trump’s surprise tariff threat.Meanwhile, Sheinbaum has shared her country’s immigration strategy with Trump while emphasising her view of “respecting human rights”.

“We reiterate that Mexico’s position is not to close borders but to build bridges between governments and between peoples,” she has said.

Crossings at the US-Mexico border dropped sharply this summer after reaching record highs earlier under the Biden administration, in part due to efforts by Mexico to implement measures like setting up new checkpoints and increasing patrols.

Since Trump and Sheinbaum spoke on the phone following the tariff threats, Mexico has also made what it says is a record seizure of fentanyl – some 1,500 tablets with an estimated value of around $400m.

Mexico, China and Canada together account for more than a third of the goods and services both imported and exported by the US, supporting tens of millions of American jobs.

About 75% of Canada’s exports go to the US, and Canadian imports to the US are valued at $430bn, according to the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade.

Mexico is the top trading partner of the US with imports valued at $480bn.

• Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that a Ukrainian drone attack on Grozny damaged the premises of a special police unit fighting in Ukraine and also injured civilians, marking the second such attack on the North Caucasus Russian region.
• Ukraine needs to conscript younger people into the military to succeed in the war against Russia, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
• A Russian government minister was recorded as saying that 48,000 relatives of Russian troops have submitted DNA samples, in a sensitive discussion apparently referring to attempts to identify Russia’s dead soldiers by their remains.
• Ukraine’s security service said it detained a 16-year-old girl accused of helping Moscow orchestrate an air strike on the northern Chernihiv region.
• Ukraine rejected as “groundless” a Russian suggestion that it was involved in the Syria conflict after Moscow’s United Nations envoy accused Kyiv of aiding rebels fighting against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.
• Advisers to incoming US President-elect Donald Trump are publicly and privately floating proposals to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, including ceding large parts of the country to Moscow for the foreseeable future and taking NATO membership for Ukraine off the table.
• The fall of France’s government on Wednesday and the country’s failure to pass a budget could make it difficult for Paris to ramp up its support for Ukraine despite President Emmanuel Macron’s repeated promises to help Kyiv for as long as necessary.
• A Ukrainian delegation has met with senior representatives of President-elect Trump, a source familiar with the meeting said, as Ukraine seeks support from the incoming US administration in its war against Russia.
• Friedrich Merz, the conservative candidate for German chancellor, sharply criticised the country’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock over her comments suggesting Germany could send troops to Ukraine to maintain peace.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Malta for a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), state news agency TASS reported, marking the Russian minister’s first visit to a European Union member state since the beginning of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
• The US warned of “serious negative impacts” if Romania turns away from the West, after the victory of a far-right outsider in the country’s first-round presidential vote, paving the way for a run-off. Calin Georgescu, a 62-year-old anti-vaxxer and admirer of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has raised fears in the West that it could herald a shift in the foreign policy of the NATO member that borders Ukraine.
• NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the military alliance had agreed on “proactive measures” to counter Russia’s campaign of hybrid attacks against its members.
• Rutte also accused Russia of supporting North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes in exchange for troops and weapons to fight in Ukraine.
• Hungary’s foreign minister said a meeting of his counterparts from NATO member countries in Brussels had produced “no consensus” on the prospect of inviting Ukraine to join the transatlantic military alliance.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised the harsh crackdown on demonstrators in Georgia and accused the country’s leadership of bowing to Moscow.
• Top US military officer, air force General CQ Brown, spoke by phone with Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov last week, the US military said, the first time Brown spoke with his Russian counterpart and where they “discussed a number of global and regional security issues to include the ongoing conflict in Ukraine”.
• The crew of a Russian ship in the Baltic Sea shot signal ammunition at a German military helicopter on a reconnaissance mission. German Foreign Minister Baerbock said that there are often ships in the Baltic Sea that are involved in circumventing sanctions imposed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• A treaty on a comprehensive strategic partnership between North Korea and Russia has come into force, Pyongyang’s state-controlled news agency KCNA reported. The formalisation of the treaty comes as the US and South Korea have accused North Korea of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine.
• A multibillion-dollar money laundering network run by two Russian millionaires and used by United Kingdom drug dealers to hide criminal cash has been brought down in an international sting.
• The world stands at the dawn of a “third nuclear age” in which the UK is threatened by multiple dilemmas, the head of the country’s armed forces has warned. However, Admiral Tony Radakin said, there would be only a “remote chance” Russia would directly attack or invade the UK if the two countries were at war.
• The new head of the UN humanitarian aid agency says it will be “ruthless” when prioritising how to spend money, in a nod to challenges in fundraising for programmes to help civilians in war zones like Gaza, Sudan, Syria and Ukraine.
• A Ukrainian government representative urged nations globally to help repatriate Ukraine’s children, taken to Russia since the start of Moscow’s war.
• Ukraine’s Zelenskyy hosted the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe Alain Berset in Kyiv. After their meeting, Zelenskyy posted on X that the pair had discussed the need to establish a tribunal to try the crimes of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Canadian media reported that Trudeau landed in Palm Beach International Airport on Friday evening to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The two spoke by phone earlier in the week after Trump announced that, upon taking office in January, he would slap an across-the-board tariff on all products entering the US from Mexico and Canada.

Neither the prime minister’s office nor Trump’s team have responded to a request for comment on the visit.

The trip was not included on Trudeau’s public itinerary for Friday. The two men will have dinner, the source said.

Trump has been at his Mar-a-Lago estate meeting with his transition team. Trudeau is reported to be the first G7 leader to visit the president-elect since the election.

Trudeau has often underscored that the two countries were able to successfully renegotiate a major trade pact during Trump’s first term, though the relationship between the two leaders has occasionally been rocky.

On Friday, speaking at an event in Prince Edward Island, Trudeau said the two countries “rolled up our sleeves and were able to create jobs on both sides of the border”.

He said looked forward to having many “great” conversations with Trump.

The Florida visit is the latest move by Canada as it seeks to avoid the hefty tariffs, which could have wide-reaching economic impacts.

It remains unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will actually move ahead with the threatened tariffs, as analysts note that the president-elect has been known to use such threats in the past as a negotiating tactic to achieve his goals.

Trump – who has also threatened the same levy against Mexico – has signalled that they would remain in place until both countries work to secure their shared borders with the US.

Trudeau said on Friday that “when Trump makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out”.

He said his goal was to point out the tariff would not just harm Canadians but also raise prices for Americans and hurt that country’s economy.

Trudeau was accompanied on the trip by Dominic LeBlanc, the minister in charge of border security.

US media reported that Trudeau and Trump were joined at dinner by Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary; Doug Burgum, tapped to lead the Department of the Interior; and Mike Waltz, who has been selected as the next national security adviser.

Canada is one of America’s largest trading partners and it sends about 75% of its total exports to the US. The two countries also share deeply integrated supply chains.

After the phone call with Trump, Trudeau held an emergency meeting on Wednesday with the leaders of Canada’s provinces and territories over how to manage the US-Canada relationship.

Trudeau is promising to present a united “Team Canada” approach to working with the US to make the case against the levy.

Several leaders of Canadian provinces have criticised Trump’s plan, saying it would be devastating to the country’s economy, including the oil and gas and automotive industries.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also had a phone call with Trump this week.

The number of crossings at the US-Canada border is significantly lower than that at the southern border, according to US Border Patrol data on migrant encounters.

During the 2024 fiscal year, there were around 23,700 apprehensions at the northern land border, while the southern border saw more than 1.53 million apprehensions.

But Canadian officials have said in recent days there is still joint work to be done to improve border security.

Canadian politicians and energy experts are warning the hefty tariff would have dire consequences for the economy of America’s northern neighbour – and hike prices on US consumers.

“Canada has no choice in this,” Dennis McConaghy, an Alberta-based former energy executive said.

“It has to find an accommodation with Trump.”

Trump announced on Monday that, upon taking office in January, he would slap an across-the-board tariff on Mexico and Canada – with no suggestion that would exclude oil and gas.

Lisa Baiton, president and CEO of the Calgary-based Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said the levy would likely mean Canada producing less oil.

Mr McConaghy said that would lead to job losses in Alberta, with potential repercussions for Canada as a whole, as poorer provinces rely on cash transfers from revenues generated by wealthier provinces – like Alberta – to help offset costs and provide social services.

It could also lead to a devaluation of the Canadian dollar at a time when the currency is already struggling due to domestic economic factors, he said.

“Keep in mind, roughly 80% of Canada’s trade is with the United States, and a majority of that trade is in hydrocarbons. Canadians can’t escape how integrated they are with the US.”

US fuel makers have also urged Trump to rule out oil and gas from any proposed levies given that Americans rely heavily on imported Canadian crude.

“Crude oil is to refineries what flour is to bakeries,” said the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) industry group in a statement this week.

“It’s our number one feedstock and input cost. If those feedstocks were to become significantly more expensive, so too would the overall cost of making fuel here in the United States.”

The US is the world’s largest producer of crude oil and natural gas, but some regions – California, the northeast and parts of the Midwest – do not have the infrastructure or pipeline capacity to rely solely on US oil and need imports to supply fuel to consumers.

Around 40% of the crude that runs through US oil refineries is imported, and the vast majority of it comes from Canada.

Canadian oil is especially relied on in the landlocked Midwest, where refineries have been outfitted to process the heavier Canadian blends.

The AFPM said there is no easy replacement for that crude without relying on overseas sources that could erode US energy security.

The industry group warned that a tariff on Canadian oil would drive up operating costs in the Midwest – costs some experts say will be downloaded onto consumers.

Patrick De Haan, a Chicago-based gas prices analyst, estimated that states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan could see gas prices rising by up to 75 cents a gallon.

Mr De Haan noted in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that these higher prices would not only be felt at the pump, but could potentially increase costs for airlines and freight haulers as well.

An increase in oil prices for US consumers would run counter to Trump’s promise to slash energy costs.

On the campaign trail, Trump frequently said he planned to cut the price of gasoline to under $2 (£1.57) a gallon. As of late November, the price of regular gasoline in the US sat around $3 a gallon.

But Trump has also vowed to increase American energy independence by boosting domestic drilling and being less reliant on foreign oil and gas, particularly from countries not allied with the US.

It remains unclear whether the tariffs will ultimately materialise, analysts have noted, as Trump has been known to use such threats in the past as a negotiation tactic to achieve certain goals.

In this case, Trump could be using the tariffs to get Canada and Mexico to cooperate on border security.

Trump has signalled that the levies would remain in place until both Canada and Mexico work on securing their shared borders with the US, limiting the number of unlawful migrants and drugs flowing into the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising to present a united “Team Canada” front and to work together with the incoming Trump administration to avoid the blanket tariffs.

The leaders of major Canadian provinces like Ontario, Quebec and Alberta have urged Trudeau to act quickly on these demands, and on Wednesday, Trudeau held an emergency meeting with provincial and territorial leaders to discuss how to move forward.

Danielle Smith, premier of Alberta, said her province will be “working aggressively” in the coming months to connect with US counterparts and to drill home the message that a strong partnership with Canada would be of benefit to the US and its energy security.

She said that in her view, Trump “and the tens of millions of Americans who voted for him have valid concerns” related border security.

She and other premiers, Smith said, have asked Trudeau to come up with a comprehensive border security plan.

Smith also said the province is exploring the option of creating specialised sheriff units to patrol its own shared border with the US state of Montana.

No matter the approach, Mr McConaghy said he hopes there is an urgency among Canadian officials to get the risk of tariffs “off the table as soon as possible”.

“If there are US tariffs, Mexico would also raise tariffs,” Sheinbaum said.The comments were the latest response to Trump’s statement on Monday that he plans to impose massive tariffs not just on China, but on Canada and Mexico as well, at a whopping 25-percent rate.Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard also warned against Trump starting a regional trade war, calling the cost to US workers “huge”.

“Around 400,000 jobs will be lost” in the US, he said, pointing to a study based on figures from US carmakers that manufacture in Mexico.

 He added the impact would extend beyond workers to US consumers. For example, Ebrard said, most pick-up trucks sold in the US are manufactured in Mexico. He claimed Trump’s tariffs would add $3,000 to the cost of a new vehicle.“That is why we say that it would be a shot in the foot,” he said.

Trump has promised to use tariffs to bolster the US manufacturing industry – an attempt at a hard reset that economists have cast doubt on.Still, the severity of the president-elect’s approach to Canada and Mexico, who along with China make up the US’s top three trading partners, has come as somewhat of a surprise.

In his statement on Monday, Trump said he would impose the 25-percent tariffs if the three countries do not do more to address irregular migration and drug smuggling into the US.Sheinbaum had previously called the threats “unacceptable”.On Wednesday, Sheinbaum revealed she held a call with Trump to discuss migration across the US-Mexico border, where she attempted to assuage his fears.“I had an excellent conversation with President Donald Trump,” Sheinbaum posted on social media. “We discussed Mexico’s strategy on the migrant phenomenon, and I shared that caravans are not arriving at the northern border because they are being taken care of in Mexico.”Officials have also warned Trump’s tariffs likely run afoul of the free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada, the USMCA, which prohibits most duties on trade between the three countries.

Trump himself had renegotiated the agreement during his first term, complaining that US businesses were getting a raw deal.Sheinbaum has requested a meeting with Trump before he takes office on January 20.For his part, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had already spoken with Trump about the tariff threat, stressing the longstanding ties between the two countries.“We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together. It was a good call,” he said. “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do.”Government officials have not been the only ones who have warned of the impact of the proposed tariffs on US companies and consumers.

Analysts at Barclays have said they estimate the proposed tariffs “could wipe out effectively all profits” from the “Detroit Three” automakers: GM, Stellantis and Ford.“While it’s generally understood that a blanket 25 percent tariff on any vehicles or content from Mexico or Canada could be disruptive, investors under-appreciate how disruptive this could be,” they wrote in a note on Tuesday.Trump’s team, for its part, has remained defiant.Brian Hughes, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, told the Reuters news agency the tariffs would protect US manufacturers and workers from “unfair practices of foreign companies and foreign markets”.He contended Trump would implement policies he said would make life affordable and more prosperous for the US.

“We need a Team Canada approach and response – and we need it now,” the Canadian politician says on X, external, adding that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “must call an urgent meeting with all premiers”.

Another politician Bonnie Crombie, leader of Ontario Liberal Party, says in a post on X, external that US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs “is serious and would have an enormous impact on just about everyone in Ontario”.

Randall Kroszne says Trump’s made clear that until he gets “satisfaction” from China and Mexico on issues of drugs and illegal migration, he’ll use tariffs “to try to make sure they do what he wants them to do”.

Kroszner also said that tariffs will impact the US economy far less than it would in other countries“Total imports in the US are only 15% of GDP, for many countries… it’s dramatically higher than that so it has a much, much bigger impact,” he said.

In Donald Trump’s first term in office there were two prevailing reasons for using tariffs.

With China in particular there was a big desire to cut the trade deficit – that’s the gap between the amount the US bought from China than sold.

That deficit meant that in 2018 – the year Trump first introduced tariffs – the US bought $418bn more goods from China than went the in the other direction.

Trump saw that as a drain on the US economy and eventually a deal for China to buy $200bn more goods was signed in January 2020. But China has struggled to live up to that commitment.

Although the deficit has see-sawed it is now lower and last year’s figure of $279bn was the lowest since 2010.

The other reason Trump gave for the use of tariffs in his first term was protecting American jobs. The new trade deal he agreed with Mexico and Canada may have helped but it’s more difficult to quantify the impact.

Neither deficits nor jobs were mentioned in his post about his plans for new tariffs in January.

The pair spoke by phone for about 10 minutes last night, a Canadian government official said.

The official says that during the call, the Canadian prime minister pointed out that the number of migrants crossing the Canadian border was much smaller compared to the US-Mexico border.

Donald Trump has said he wants to introduce tariffs – or taxes on imports – on three countries: Canada, Mexico and China.

In 2023, the value of imports of goods and services from these three leading trading countries to the US was nearly $1.5tn, according to the US government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis., externalSo what do they trade?

In 2022, the latest year for which there is a full breakdown of the types of goods and services imported, the top import from Canada to the US was crude petroleum, valued at $117bn.

This made up 60% of the US gross total crude oil imports, external.

From China, imports of computers and broadcasting equipment came to more than $100bn.

The top import from Mexico was also computers valued at almost $37bn.

Imported cars from Mexico were worth more than $34bn in 2022.

Trump and Trudeau reportedly had a “good conversation”, speaking about trade and border security, and agreed to keep in touch.

Are the leaders of G20 nations with their own domestic audiences really going to roll over in order to give the new president a win?

They could choose to wait out the inevitable impact of Trump applying a 25% increase on the cost of two-fifths of US imports on US consumers and inflation.

What is also clear is that the appointment of Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary will not temper the tariff push.

Amid the battle for his nomination he went out of his way to acknowledge the power of tariffs as a tool that had been pioneered by Alexander Hamilton himself, the first ever US Treasury secretary.

Earlier this year he had suggested tariffs might be used tactically, but the main tool for the US rejuvenation of manufacturing would be a cheaper dollar.

Europe and the UK have been spared for now. But it is important to reiterate that these moves are not even the real bulk of the tariff policy outlined by Trump.

He wants to fundamentally change the global economic map, and reduce China and Europe’s trade surplus with the US which he views as “ripping off America”.

The world is far more complicated now, however, than these binary economic relationships. The US is undoubtedly powerful enough to start rebalancing world trade. Push things too far, however, especially with G7 and G20 allies, and the US might find itself rather too isolated.