Canada's 'old relationship' with U.S. 'is over' amid Trump tariffs: Carney
By: By Sean Boynton & Saba Aziz - Canada's Global News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Canada's 'old relationship' with U.S. 'is over' amid Trump tariffs: Carney
Canada must "fundamentally reimagine our economy" in the face of escalating tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday, declaring the "old relationship" between Canada and the U.S. is "over."
Carney promised to bring retaliatory measures, reduce internal trade barriers and pivot Canada's economy away from reliance on the U.S., after Trump announced new auto tariffs that will begin next week.
"Over the coming weeks, months and years, we must fundamentally reimagine our economy," Carney told reporters in Ottawa after meeting with the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations.
"The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over."
Carney wouldn't say exactly what retaliatory measures the federal government will take in response to Trump's latest round of tariffs. He said more will be announced on April 2, when the new auto tariffs and further "reciprocal" tariffs on all foreign trading partners are set to begin.
Carney confirmed he has not yet spoken to Trump since becoming prime minister earlier this month, but plans to do so in "the next day or two" after he said Trump reached out Wednesday evening to schedule a call.
"I appreciate the opportunity to discuss how we can protect our workers and build our economies," Carney said. "I will make clear to the president that those interests are best served by cooperation and mutual respect, including of our sovereignty."
Carney pressed pause on his federal election campaign as the Liberal Party leader Thursday to chair the cabinet committee meeting weighing Canada's response to the fresh round of tariffs coming from Trump administration.
As per the caretaker convention, Carney can act in his prime ministerial capacity during an election campaign as long as his actions are routine, non-controversial, agreed to by opposition parties or "urgent and in the public interest."
Carney reiterated his promise from last week after meeting with Canada's premiers that a Liberal government, if re-elected, will ensure all federal limits on internal trade will be removed by July 1, and take steps to boost domestic investment.
"I reject any attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can own us. That will never happen," Carney said.
"Our response to these latest tariffs is to fight, to protect, and to build."
Strategy to protect auto industry from tariffs
Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday for 25 per cent tariffs on all foreign-made cars and light trucks, in addition to tariffs already in place on those goods.
The auto tariffs that are set to go into effect April 2 will not apply on U.S.-made parts in foreign-made vehicles, according to the order.
The new auto tariffs are in addition to 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods, as well as an additional 25 per cent on steel and aluminum imports and a 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy.
Global "reciprocal" tariffs on all foreign imports, including from Canada, are also planned for April 2, which is when the auto tariffs are expected to come into force.
Industry groups said Thursday the new tariffs will bring immediate consequences to Canada's auto sector, warning of "chaos and damage" to the highly integrated North American supply chain where vehicles and components cross borders multiple times during production.
Carney referenced plans he had announced while campaigning as Liberal leader on Wednesday such as an "all in Canada" auto manufacturing network and a $2-billion "strategic response fund" to protect Canadian workers and shift reliance away from U.S. supply chains.
"We have a very clear strategy," he said Thursday of "backwards integrating" the auto supply chain into steel and aluminum and critical minerals sectors to feed into each other domestically.
Carney has vowed, both prior to the election campaign as prime minister and while on the campaign trail as Liberal leader, to support workers and diversify the domestic economy.
Canada has already responded to Trump's trade actions with counter-tariffs on almost $60 billion worth of American goods, which were announced in retaliation for the 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods and a subsequent round that was retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs.
Another round targeting $125 billion worth of U.S. goods is set to begin on April 2, and the government has not indicated those are off the table since Carney took over as prime minister.
Carney on Thursday rejected Trump's threat from earlier in the day of "large scale" tariffs on Canada if it takes retaliatory actions that "do economic harm to the USA."
"I take note of the president's comment. I don't take direction from him," he said.
How are federal party leaders responding?
Trump's tariffs and repeated threats to Canada's sovereignty are emerging as a key campaign focus for the main federal parties in the 2025 election campaign.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged Trump to "knock it off" and "stop attacking America's friends."
"Here he goes again: attacking his closest neighbor and America's best friend with new tariffs that will drive up the cost of living for American consumers and drive down American wages, while damaging a historic friendship," he said at a campaign event in Coquitlam, B.C.
He said a Conservative government led by him would get the Canadian economy out from "under the American thumb" by reducing internal trade barriers, boosting resource projects and selling those resources to partners other than the U.S.
"If you, Mr. Trump, don't want them, the rest of the world does," he said.
Poilievre has proposed "dollar-for-dollar tariffs carefully aimed at maximizing impact on American companies while minimizing impact on Canadian consumers."
He wants to "put all the tariff revenues into help for affected workers and businesses" and says the "government should not keep a dime of the new revenue."
Carney said Thursday his government has "committed to use every dollar collected from our retaliatory tariffs to protect our workers."
Speaking at a campaign stop in Windsor, Ont., NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Trump's tariffs feel like a "betrayal" and "a gut punch," adding that Canada needs to fight back.
"Donald Trump has started an illegal trade war with Canada, one of their best allies, for absolutely no reason and now workers are reeling," Singh told reporters Thursday.
Singh said he will not be critical about the approach when it comes to Canada's response to Trump's trade actions, saying "we should all be united."
"I'm on Team Canada when it comes to fighting back against Donald Trump in the negotiations. I want Canada to win."
To support workers, Singh pledged Employment Insurance benefits to cover wages.
The NDP is also proposing to waive the GST off Canadian vehicles to incentivize people to buy local, Singh said.
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It doesn't take an Einstein to realize that Trump's destructive teriffs are going to hurt EVERYONE - including those who were stupid enough to vote for him. Some will be hurt more than others, and even I, on the other side of the world, am being harmed because Trump's ignorant idiocy will lead to the devaluation of the Canadian dollar, which means that my monthly Canada pension payments will obtain a reduced conversion to RMB. Americans may think they are going to escape suffering. Just wait and you'll see. You mignt no longer afford to buy the car that you were planning on, as an example.
Any American who thinks that is either ignorant, naive or stupid, or some combination of all three.
What amazes me is that I thought that anyone who has the intelligence to be able to comment on a site like NT would realize the harm that Trump is doing not just to Americans, but to the rest of the world, yet they still support him - to me that means they really are lacking in plain ordinary common sense, if not bearing an inferior IQ.
Brainwashed by the "Owner of the lib's"
This is one of the saddest things I've ever read. Fuck Trump and the people who voted for him.
Trump is mentally diseased and the American people are meekly accepting it.
Not just ''accepting it'', but also supporting his maniacal concepts.
I'll second that emotion.
How anyone can even think that Trump has not damaged international relationships boggles the mind. If one is so consumed by the cult of Trump that they cannot see even this, they are unreachable. The only thing that might snap them out of their delusion is to feel local pain ... typically financial pain ... and to recognize that the pain they are experiencing was unnecessarily created by Trump.
Trump is, regrettably, worse than I imagined.
He is not worse (yet) than I predicted. Give him time though. I am sure he will lower the bar for Americans yet further.
Our government is in the hands of far right extremists. Is that worse than what we all expected? I dont know if there is an answer to that question yet. Russell Vought was "excited " to hear today that RFK Jr is laying off 10,000 health workers. But this is only the beginning of what Vought wants.
Trump is mentally ill. The real evil is in his close aides.
At one time I felt that Trump was at least okay in some limited respects, in particular concerning Israel, but now what he has been doing is so horrific and devestating that it overpowers and cancels out anything that could have been good about him. IMO he will be remembered by history as not only the worst PotUS ever, but as one of the worst leaders in the history of the world.
Canadians are not stupid. They have already started to check the labels on goods to make sure they are only going to 'BUY CANADIAN PRODUCTS' and have been cancelling their travel plans in order to go elsewhere than the USA (and I have seen on TV an interview with a person in the tourist industry in Maine admit that this is going to hurt).
One of my YouTube news sources recently asked "Might Canada join the EU?" They answered, "No... for the moment. If Trump's craziness continues... anything is possible."
The problem is that the craziness WILL continue. Trump can't back out of what he's done, so all that will happen is that he's going to make it worse. But are the Democrats undivided enough and with powerful enough lawmakers to take over Congress in November 2026? Will 'The Squad' rule the roost?
Welcome to the European Union...
Yes, I understand what you mean.
Amazingly one sided conversation. I wonder why?
I mean it is Reacher night but it is streaming, so we can watch it at any time.
There could be a few different reasons. Maybe they've already realized that even THEY'RE going to be hurt from what their 'hero' is doing, or they're already experiencing that pain, or else their brains have started to work.
Now, now, we must be patient. LOL
Having pride in one's nation is fine, allowing hubris to steer it inevitably leads to a downfall.
Saw it the other night, loved it!
Please describe or explain what you posted, as I am unable to open it.
Carney, in a red "Canada" jersey, is coaching an ice hockey practice session. Mike Myers, also in a red "Canada" jersey, comes up to say hello. Carney grills Myers (on children's TV shows, etc), who lives in the States, to be sure he's really Canadian. Myers, gets everything right, so Carney concludes, "You really ARE Canadien!" and both exclaim "ELBOWS UP!!!"
Okay, thanks, I knew about that image but I've never seen it. I'm unable to open images that are copied from sites I can't open and are then pasted here. In that case for me to see it the image must be copied to a member's computer picture library and then copied from it to paste here.
Was this it?
Without the Trump cartoon.
Myers is very funny. Facial expressions are great.