Report: US Banks OK With Regulations in Canada Despite Trump’s Complaints

While banks in the United States face obstacles to doing business in Canada, they are reportedly not clamoring for changes.

Bank executives do not often bring up the issue, The New York Times reported Thursday (March 6) in an article fact-checking President Donald Trump’s social media posts saying that Canada does not allow U.S. banks to do business in the country.

“Canada doesn’t allow American banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American market,” Trump wrote in a Tuesday (March 4) post on Truth Social. “Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn’t it?”

In a Feb. 3 post on Truth Social, Trump wrote: “Canada doesn’t even allow U.S. banks to open or do business there. What’s that all about?”

U.S. banks can operate in Canada but face challenges if they try to do so, according to The New York Times report.

American banks and other foreign banks must either work with a Canadian middleman, establish a Canadian subsidiary or receive government permission to do business in the country, the report said. Restrictions on foreign ownership prevent them from taking over a Canadian bank.

Foreign banks also face non-regulatory hurdles like the fact that many Canadian consumers prefer to do their banking in person — meaning that a new bank would have to offer brick-and-mortar branches to gain their business, per the report.

In addition, more than three-quarters of the deposits in Canada are held by the “Big Six” Canadian banks, according to the report.

These factors add up to foreign banks facing a regulatory burden and operating costs that may outweigh the business they could gain in Canada, per the report.

Trump raised the issue of banking in Canada while threatening and then imposing tariffs on the country.

The U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports — along with those from Mexico and China — went into full force Tuesday. They include blanket 25% tariffs against Canada and Mexico and a 20% levy on China.

Canada retaliated with levies on a reported $107 billion of goods coming from the U.S.

It was reported Wednesday (March 5) that Canada won’t lift its retaliatory tariffs until the U.S. does the same.

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