Trump refuses to rule out recession as chaotic trade war with Canada, Mexico and China escalates

By Oliver O’Connell,Joe Sommerlad

Donald Trump said over the weekend that he could not rule out the possibility of a recession being triggered by uncertainty over his tariff war against the United States’s top trading partners Canada, Mexico and China.

“I hate to predict things like that,” the president told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures when pressed about the possibility. “There is a period of transition.”

Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, meanwhile won the race to succeed Justin Trudeau as Canada’s new prime minister last night and wasted no time in vowing to take on Trump in a trade war, urging his country to unite.

Carney, who saw off a challenge from ex-finance minister Chrystia Freeland to lead the Liberal Party, hit out at the American’s tariff aggressions by saying: “The Canadian government has rightly retaliated with tariffs. We will keep our tariffs on until the Americans show us respect.

“We did not ask for this fight. But Canadians are always ready when someone else drops the gloves. Make no mistake, Canada will win.”

He further accused Trump of “attacking Canadian families” and wanting to “destroy the Canadian way of life.”