Former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said the trade conflict between President Donald Trump and Canada keeps getting worse, telling CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the president is now targeting even Christmas decorations and building materials. Charest led the federal Progressive Conservative Party in the 1990s before serving as Quebec's premier from 2003 to 2012.

"We get along very well, but this trade war, Wolf, is completely off the rails," Charest said Monday. "I mean, this started with the president announcing a new round of 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of goods. For example, Wolf, the president, wants to tax Christmas decorations. Christmas decorations! I mean, I don't know what it is about being obsessed by these kind of things."

The tariffs, Charest explained, will mean about $1,000 more in annual expenses for American families.

"It increases inflation. And then it increases interest rates on Americans. None of this, absolutely none of this, makes sense. And the reality of our relationship with the United States is that both countries have the most integrated economy in the world," he added.

That integration is built on roughly $1 trillion in annual two-way goods and services trade, and it is governed by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement — the pact that replaced NAFTA in 2020 and is due for a scheduled joint review in 2026, a milestone U.S., Canadian and Mexican officials will now approach amid the tariff conflict.

Charest also pointed out that Canada currently sells much of its oil to the United States at a heavy discount — an arrangement he noted Ottawa could change by withdrawing the discount or even refusing to sell to U.S. buyers, driving fuel prices up further.

"The United States will never have a better friend, partner or reliable supplier than Canada. We supply 60 percent of all the oil that goes into the United States," Charest said before doing the math.

"The Americans import what you import. The United States produces 13.7 million barrels a day. You consume 20 million barrels a day. We send 4 to 5 million barrels a day. And we sell that oil, Wolf at a discount to our American neighbor. I mean, does it get any better? That is, that's the truth of the relationship between both countries we're reliable. We're friends. We are your biggest customer," Charest cautioned, noting how badly the trade war will ultimately hurt Americans.

"And if it's going to increase inflation, well, then it's going to increase interest rates and everyone will be a loser as they come out of it," he added.

Charest spoke after Blitzer opened the segment by reporting that negotiations between the United States and Canada had "completely collapsed."

The trade dispute is also being felt in the housing sector. The National Association of Home Builders said in November that softwood imports from Canada to the U.S. rose by 45 percent. About 25-30 percent of the softwood used in the U.S. comes from Canada, making it the country's biggest supplier, and 85 percent of the wood imported into the U.S. comes from Canada, according to the association's analysis of how tariffs impact home building. Softwood is used for house framing, decking, roof decking and other building materials, and it is no stranger to trade friction — the United States has imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties on Canadian softwood in a dispute that stretches back to the 1980s.