Ten days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a pause in the sweeping reciprocal tariffs he'd imposed a week prior, rumors continued to spread that he had been forced to soften his trade stance because former central banker and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney had orchestrated a massive sale of U.S. bonds.
For example, a post on Facebook made the allegation, saying Carney had put Trump "firmly in his place," and that Trump had then stopped referring to Canada as the "51st state" (archived):
Another post on Facebook said Carney's supposed move was a "checkmate" (archived):
Users also shared another post relaying the same story. A summary of story appeared on X and again on Bluesky. Further, Snopes readers searched the website seeking confirmation that Carney was behind the sell-off.
The allegations stemmed from a newsletter installment by Dean Blundell, a Canadian former radio personality whom media outlets like the Toronto Star have described as a "shock jock" — a radio presenter who relies on offensive words and exaggeration to build a listenership. Blundell's former radio station CFNY-FM suspended him in 2013 after one controversy too many. He then joined CJCL-AM, a sports radio station, until the station dropped his show in 2017. He has since hosted an independent podcast and launched a newsletter on Substack.
As a new federal election approached in Canada, Blundell has posted content in support of Carney, who replaced Justin Trudeau as prime minister in March 2025 and who, as the leader of the Liberal Party, was running against Pierre Poilièvre of the Conservative Party. Blundell's stance has also been staunchly anti-Trump and anti-Poilièvre.
Snopes has yet to confirm that Carney orchestrated a U.S. Treasurys sell-off in closed-door meetings with European and Japanese leaders. We contacted Blundell to ask how he first came upon the information he relayed in his newsletter. We will update this report should he respond.
Blundell asserts Carney retaliated against U.S. tariffs with bonds
Bundell was correct that a downturn in the U.S. Treasurys market forced Trump to pause tariffs on April 9, 2025:
When a reporter asked what justified the pause, Trump replied: "The bond market is very tricky."
Indeed, after Trump announced the sweeping reciprocal tariffs on April 2, a dynamic experts have deemed "dangerous" took hold of U.S. security markets. Typically, a drop in stock prices correlates with an increase in bond prices as investors seek refuge in U.S. Treasurys.
However, two days after the tariffs announcement, the price of bonds began to fall along with the price of stocks, forcing bond yields up. Synchronized sell-off events can lead investors to abandon U.S. securities. Further, the consequences of a sharp increase in bond yields can lead to an increase in borrowing costs both for the government and for businesses and households, leading to an economic downturn.
Carney, an accomplished economist and the former governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, understands this mechanism. Further, Carney steered monetary policy in Canada during the Great Recession of 2008, when credit around the world nearly froze. But in his story, Blundell asserted that Carney slowly amassed U.S. Treasurys — government debt in the form of bonds — in early 2025.
It is true that Treasurys holdings jumped in February 2025, led by Canada and Japan, who acquired more long-term U.S. debt. This happened just as trading tension escalated between the U.S. and Canada. When we reached out to Blundell, we asked when Carney would have started to do this, given he only became prime minister of Canada on March 14, 2025.
Blundell is also correct that other governments can hold Treasurys. For example, the U.S.' largest creditor is Japan, which held more than $1 trillion in Treasury securities in early 2025, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury. The second largest is China, with $760.8 billion. In third place is the U.K., with $740.2 billion. Canada holds $350.8 billion.
How the scheme allegedly took place
In his newsletter, Blundell alleged that, after Canada acquired more Treasurys, Carney met European Union leaders during his trip to the U.K. and France on March 17, 2025. In anticipation of higher tariffs in early April, Blundell said the prime minister and EU leaders met behind closed doors — meetings that also included Japan — and persuaded them to sell their collective holdings of U.S. Treasurys slowly but in concert once Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs.
In the first few weeks of his presidency, Trump indeed touted a significant tariff announcement in April, though he gave no details about its magnitude. However, 25% tariffs on Canadian products had been in place since March 4, 2025.
According to Blundell, when the tariff announcement finally came, Canada, the EU and Japan were in a position to sell Treasurys and rattle Trump enough to make him remove the tariffs.
"China's still in the crosshairs—125% duties are no joke—but Canada? The EU? Japan? They're off the hit list," Blundell wrote. "For now, at least. Why? Because Carney's play wasn't noise. It was power."
Indeed, Trump lowered tariffs on the EU and Japan to 10% and paused them for 90 days. He also raised tariffs on China to 125%. However, as per the White House, tariffs on Canada were still in place — the nation was excluded from the pause in reciprocal tariffs. When Snopes reached out to Blundell, we also asked what he meant when he said Canada was "off the hit list," alongside Japan and the EU. We will update this report should he respond.