Wilbur Ross led trade talks with Canada in Trump's first term—he says it's more difficult now because Canadians simply don't like the U.S. as much | Fortune

The usually cordial relationship between Washington and Ottawa has soured considerably in recent weeks, with trade talks derailed and the neighbors now levying multi-billion-dollar tariffs against one another.The Trump administration’s most recent trade war comes with a hefty cost, with some $872.3 billion traded between the nations in 2025. After negotiations collapsed this weekend, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. “asked for too much and offered too little,” while Trump says Canada is “foolish” to engage in a trade war.Wilbur Ross has a unique perspective on the challenges being faced on both sides: He was U.S. Commerce Secretary in Trump’s first term, and led renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Canada during a similarly tense period.

The current negotiations are all the more difficult because of the fundamental shift in sentiment–and as a result, political will—of Canadians toward their American neighbors, Ross said.

“The Canadians have adopted a very negative attitude toward the U.S. in general, and we can argue, is that justified? Is it not? It doesn’t matter. There’s been a real sea change [and] that’s gonna be a complication because—almost independently of whatever proposal the U.S. might make—there’s probably a political advantage to people in Canada who oppose it,” Ross told Fortune in an exclusive interview.