PM Mark Carney
PM Mark Carney ‘s statement represents a dramatic turn around of Canada’s foreign policy. He declared that it is evident the ‘US is no longer a reliable partner’.
Canada’s new PM Mark Carney stated on Thursday that the age of conventional relationship with the United States in terms of economic integration and military alliance is “over”, as he hinted at upcoming negotiations with President Donald Trump on a raging tariff war.
“An old relationship we had with the United States, based on increasing integration of our economies and close security and military co-operation, is over. What the United States does next is uncertain. But what is certain is that we Canadians have agency, we have power. We are masters in our own house,” PM Mark Carney stated following an emergency meeting with a cabinet committee on Canada-US relations.
Trump and Carney haven’t talked since the new Canadian prime minister took office on March 14. The Liberal Party leader stated he anticipates talking to the US president in the “next day or two” but did not show an indication of improved bilateral relations.
The US is no longer a trustworthy partner.
PM Mark Carney expressed that it is evident that the US is no longer a trustworthy partner.
“It is conceivable, with full-scale negotiations, that we might be able to rebuild some trust, but there will be no going back. The next government and all the ones after will have an entirely different relationship with the United States,” he continued.
Canada retaliated with duties on US exports of $41.9 billion in response to Trump’s duty on Ottawa exports such as steel and aluminium. The government of Carney also pledged to retaliate with further tariffs on around $66 billion of American exports in response to Trump’s most recent 25 per cent duties on cars containing non-domestic parts
PM Mark Carney chose to hold back and see Trump’s actions regarding trade before announcing specific information on retaliatory measures. “We won’t back down. We will respond forcefully. Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country,” he said.
The prime minister has scheduled an election for April 28 to ask Canadians to give him a greater mandate in addressing threats from Trump, who has repeatedly called the neighboring country to become a “51st US state.” Opinion polls have placed him in a close battle with Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party, while the Liberal Party has improved its image since the resignation of Trudeau. Party improved its image since Trudeau’s departure.
PM Mark Carney of Canada calls Trump’s auto tariffs a “direct attack.”
Canadian PM Mark Carney on Wednesday criticized US President Donald Trump’s recent auto tariffs as a “direct attack” on his nation. He asserted that the trade war is “hurting” Americans.
“This is a very direct attack. We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country,” AP quoted PM Mark Carney as saying.
The Canadian premier stated that he had to hear the specifics of Trump’s executive order before undertaking retaliatory steps. He denounced it as unnecessary and said that he would break away from election campaigning to fly to Ottawa on Thursday to convene his special Cabinet committee for US relations.
PM Mark Carney previously declared a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will safeguard Canadian jobs in the automotive sector impacted by Trump’s tariffs.
Cars are Canada’s second-largest export. Carney mentioned the industry employs 125,000 Canadians outright and nearly another 500,000 in connected sectors.
“Canada will be there for auto workers,” he said.
Trump’s order on auto tariffs
Earlier today, Trump said he was imposing 25% tariffs on auto imports, a step the White House says would encourage domestic production but might also impose financial strain on automakers relying on international supply chains.
“This will continue to stimulate growth. We’ll be effectively charging a 25% tariff,” AP cited Trump as saying.
To drive home his seriousness on the tariffs directive he had signed, the US president stated, “This is permanent.”
Earlier, Trump gave U.S. automakers a one-month reprieve on his tough new tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports.
The Conference Board said Tuesday, according to the AP report, that its U.S consumer confidence index dropped 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth consecutive monthly decline and its lowest reading since January 2021.
“His trade war is hurting American consumers and workers and it will hurt more. I see that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low,” Carney said.
The planned tax increase on car imports in April will raise the costs of automakers while reducing their revenues.
Trump previously imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and now is threatening universal tariffs on every Canadian good — and every single one of America’s trading partners — on April 2.
“He wants to ruin us so that America can claim us,” said Carney. “And never ever will he succeed because we just don’t take care of ourselves, we take care of one another.”
