U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during the signing of a security pact between the United States, Denmark, and Greenland during the 81st session of the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly at U.N. Headquarters in New York City on Sept. 22, 2026. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump says Canada is “destroying itself” with its immigration policies, which he argues allow millions of people to enter the country with minimal scrutiny.
“Canada is destroying itself by allowing millions and millions of people into the Country, essentially unchecked and unvetted, and who are causing problems that will soon be too big to handle,” Trump said in a Sept. 23 post on his Truth Social platform.
“It is a Liberal takeover that will end very badly. Already showing up in their numbers. Big unemployment. ‘Oh Canada!’”
Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand was asked by reporters about Trump’s post on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City.
“Canada has had a revised immigration policy since 2024, and we are certainly ensuring that our immigration levels, including in terms of temporary foreign workers, are reduced in order to stabilize the supports that are available for all Canadians,” she said on Sept. 23.
Anand said immigration has improved “Canadian prosperity” overall, but that the federal government reduced intake in 2024 to ensure there is “stability between the levels of immigration and the services that are available to all Canadians.”
Ottawa cut immigration targets in the fall of 2024, citing rapid population growth that had added pressure to housing supply and affordability. The government also said communities were facing increased pressure on infrastructure and public services as population growth outpaced their capacity.
Public opinion polls at the time showed a sharp increase in the number of Canadians who said immigration levels were too high. Then-prime minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged that the government had not struck the right balance on immigration after increasing levels in response to labour-market needs.
The Carney government enacted the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act in March in a bid to reform Canada’s border security, law enforcement powers, and immigration and asylum systems.
While the Conservatives ultimately voted in favour of the bill after amendments were made to what the party had described as invasive privacy measures, members argued the final legislation did not go nearly far enough to fix what they called a “broken immigration system.”
The government has said the legislation gives Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada broader authority to temporarily halt new application submissions, suspend or cancel application processing, and modify, suspend or cancel immigration documents when deemed to be in the public interest.
Trump’s latest social media commentary comes against the backdrop of heightened trade tensions between the United States and Canada.
The Trump administration imposed 50 percent tariffs on an array of Canadian goods following the collapse of bilateral trade talks in late August. The two governments gave conflicting accounts of why negotiations failed: Prime Minister Mark Carney said Washington introduced last-minute terms he considered “unfair” and “uneconomic,” while U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Canada declined to finalize terms already agreed earlier in the week and introduced new demands.
Carney responded on Sept. 8 with dollar-for-dollar tariffs covering about $27.6 billion worth of U.S. imports, including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics. That same day, Trump signed proclamations to exclude certain Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motor-vehicle products from U.S. imports. On Sept. 16, he also directed officials to identify Canadian-origin goods that could be removed or made unavailable through the U.S. federal civil procurement system.