Canada's ready to fight Trump's tariffs, Carney says
"We will protect our workers and our industries during this difficult period, but above all we will build a new Canadian economy," Carney said
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OTTAWA — Canada’s ready to fight.
Speaking to reporters Thursday afternoon from West Block, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada is prepared to resist U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest salvo in America’s trade war against Canada.
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“The President of the United States is trying to fundamentally restructure his economy — that means our economy, and the global economy as well,” Carney said, adding he understands and respects Trump’s motives but disagrees with how he’s doing it.
“With time, it’ll become apparent that these actions will end up hurting American workers and American consumers.”
On Wednesday, Trump announced sweeping 25% tariffs on all non-U.S. made vehicles, a move that threatens to cripple Canada’s — and possibly North America’s — incredibly-integrated auto industry.
Canada, he said, will resist Trump’s efforts to wear down and break Canada’s resolve in order to absorb Canada unto the union.
“That will never happen,” Carney said.
Canada’s retaliation against Trump’s tariffs, he said, will be comprehensive and have “maximum impact” on the U.S.
“We will protect our workers and our industries during this difficult period, but above all we will build a new Canadian economy,” Carney said.
Such actions, he said, are only the first step.
Carney wouldn’t say what’s on the table in terms of retaliation, but described the process as a “negotiation” — hinting retaliatory tariffs may come from Canada’s forestry, lumber, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.
“We have a number of measures that we can take in response to those initiatives,” Carney said.
“We’re going to know a lot more in a week, and we’ll respond then. In a negotiation, it doesn’t make sense to tip your hand and say what you’re going to do going forward.”
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Despite media reports suggesting Trump and Carney had already spoken, Carney said on Thursday that the White House reached out on Wednesday evening to schedule a call — but he said that call hadn’t yet taken place.
On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford received a phone call from U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick assuring him that Canada would see a significant carve-out to those announced tariffs on cars and trucks built under the auspices of the CUSMA trade agreement.
“We don’t back down, we will response forcefully,” Carney said. “Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country.”
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