EDITORIAL: Can Carney handle Trump? We’ll see

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Prime Minister Mark Carney based his successful election campaign by advertising himself as the best candidate to handle U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war on us, so now he has another chance to demonstrate it.

That’s because on Friday Trump announced he will double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the U.S. to 50%, effective Wednesday, June 4.

As Canada is the largest external supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., this would have a major negative impact on our economy, already coping with the 25% tariff Trump imposed on steel and aluminum in March.

So far, the response of the Carney government has been muted.

Minister for Canada-U.S. Trade Dominic LeBlanc posted in a three-part tweet on X on Saturday that Canada has taken note of Trump’s comments.

He said the federal government will defend the interests of Canadian workers in the face of Trump’s continuing threats, taking as long as necessary, but no longer, “to get the best deal for Canadians” in negotiating “a new economic and security relationship” with the U.S.

LeBlanc cited Carney’s pre-arranged meeting with Canada’s premiers on Monday in Saskatoon with the goals of creating one integrated Canadian economy out of 13 provincial and territorial jurisdictions, and fast-tracking “big nation-building projects” because “we can give ourselves far more than the United States can take from us.”

That’s all well and good but these are long-term solutions in the face of the immediate threat posed by Trump’s latest out-of-the-blue decision to double tariffs on steel and aluminum, which impacts Canada and other countries as well.

Ideally, Carney will be able to prevail on Trump to delay implementation of his latest tariff threat, drawing on what we’re told is Carney’s positive relationship with the U.S. president.

That said, there’s only so much Canada do in response given that, as Carney himself has noted, we’ll lose a dollar-for-dollar tariff war with the U.S. because our economy is one-tenth the size of theirs.

What’s really needed is not more “elbows up” rhetoric from the Carney government, but a negotiated settlement between Canada and the U.S. on these issues, leading to a new Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade which comes up for review next year.

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