A screenshot of a video posted on the personal social media account of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney

　　US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday lashed out at Canada’s trade engagement with China, warning that Ottawa could face 100 percent tariffs, while claiming that Beijing could also be hit with additional penalties. A Chinese expert said the remarks once again lay bare Washington’s tendency to politicize trade and exert hegemonic pressure through coercive means.

　　According to The Guardian, Carney said on Sunday that his recent agreement with China merely cut tariffs on a few sectors that were recently hit with them. He noted that Canada has no intention of pursuing a free trade agreement with China, stressing, “What we have done with China is to rectify some issues that developed in the last couple of years.”

　　Bessent, in an interview with ABC on the same day, accused Carney of making an “about-face” by striking a deal with China to lower some trade barriers, while echoing US President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada, Bloomberg reported.

　　Bessent claimed that Canada could face 100 percent tariffs if it enters into a free-trade agreement with China and allows itself to become a conduit for artificially cheap goods into the US supply chain, particularly in automobile manufacturing.

　　US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, Photo: VCG

　　Whether to launch trade negotiations or sign related agreements is entirely a sovereign decision made by countries based on their own national interests, and no third party has the right to interfere, Zhou Mi, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Monday.