New Michigan Senator Abdul El-Sayed wants to work with Trump on 'stupid tariffs with Canada' as top trade adviser urges president to end the trade war

El-Sayed is one of those frustrated Michiganders.

“If he [Trump] is interested in working on issues that I want to work on, … (including) stopping these stupid tariffs with Canada, then let’s talk about doing that and deliver for the public,” El-Sayed said on MS NOW’s Morning Joe two days after the midterm elections, CTV News reports.

Seeing that Michigan’s economy is heavily integrated with Canada, especially in the automotive sector, President Trump’s tariffs on the country have been costly for the state. Since January 2025, tariffs on Canada have cost Michigan around $23 billion, including a $10 billion blow to the state’s auto sector, according to Crain’s Detroit Business.

Following Trump’s 25% tariffs on auto imports from Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney retaliated with his own 25% fees. An angered Trump then threatened to raise the tariffs on Canadian auto parts and vehicles to 50%.

Michigan’s agricultural exports to Canada, which fell 12.3% from 2024 to 2025, have also been costly, leading to a $145 million loss for the state, CTV News reports.

Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, Trump’s top trade adviser, is reportedly urging the president to step up negotiations and ease the trade tension with Canada, according to Politico.

Tariff tensions with Canada gets personal

Tensions between the U.S. and Canadian governments may have started as economic, but they’ve increasingly become more personal in recent months.

In early September, Carney took a shot at U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick after the Trump administration official said Canada purposefully scuttled trade talks for political purposes.

“I don’t think, with all respect, appointed, unelected Cabinet members in the United States are experts on Canadian politics,” Carney said during a news conference on Sept. 3, CNBC reports. “We are always going to stand up for what’s in the best interest of Canada.”

Negotiations between the two countries collapsed in August, though Carney says trade talks have intensified since the prime minister’s reported call with Trump in late October.

“We’ve made progress but we haven’t finished,” Carney told reporters on Nov. 3, CP24 reports. “They’re asking less and they’re offering more, but we’re not quite there.”

Trump, however, didn’t seem all that interested in continuing negotiations in early September.

“It is very good for Canadian Politicians like Prime Minister Carney to make President Donald J. Trump ‘the enemy,’ until their Economy collapses,” Trump wrote in a social media post on Sept. 3. “Then it will prove to be very bad for Politics — Worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian Politician. Just watch!”