Carney set to speak with Trump, says old Canada-U.S. relationship ‘over’ amid ongoing tariffs

Liberal Leader Mark Carney says Canada will defend its workers and calls the 25 per cent tariff on all cars not made in the U.S. a 'direct attack.'

Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that the decades-old Canada-U.S. relationship is over, and that he plans to speak with the U.S. president in the coming days, as Donald Trump ratchets up his global trade war.

Carney spoke to reporters on Parliament Hill following an emergency cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

“The president of the United States reached out to schedule a call,” Carney said, pressing pause on his election campaign to address the ongoing trade war with the U.S.

“I appreciate this opportunity to discuss how we can protect our workers and build our economies,” he added. “I will make clear to the president that those interests are best served by cooperation and mutual respect, including of our sovereignty.”

On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all automobile imports into the U.S., starting next week. Carney says Canada’s response will also be announced next week.

Calling Trump’s slate of tariffs and ensuing trade war “the biggest crisis in our lifetimes,” Carney said the president’s team reached out to schedule a call between the two leaders, which will be the first since he became prime minister on March 14.

“We won’t back down. We will respond forcefully,” Carney said of this latest round of tariffs. “Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country, the future.”

According to the fact sheet issued by the White House regarding the automobile tariffs, auto parts that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) will be exempt from the levies until the U.S. commerce secretary and U.S. Customs and Border Protection “establish a process” to tax exclusively the non-American vehicle components.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office has said that vehicles made up of at least 50 per cent U.S. parts will not be subject to the tariffs. All other vehicles will face a reduced tariff of 12.5 per cent on the non-U.S. made components of those vehicles. Ford spoke to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Wednesday night.

Trump has also warned reciprocal tariffs, which he’s repeatedly called “the big one,” are coming next week on April 2.

Given the election campaign — with Canadians set to head to the polls on April 28 — Carney said “it’s possible” some cabinet officials will travel to Washington to meet with the U.S. administration in the next few weeks, but that he’ll “see where we go from there” when determining whether he’ll make the trip himself.

Carney also said the Canada-U.S. relationship marked by “deepening integration” and “security and military cooperations” is “over.”

“This is a negotiation,” Carney said, pointing to the slate of U.S. tariffs that Trump has both threatened and already implemented, when asked to detail Canada’s retaliatory plan.

“In our judgment, certainly my judgment, it doesn’t make sense when there’s a series of U.S. initiatives that are going to come in relatively rapid succession, to respond to each of them,” he added. “We’re going to know a lot more in a week, and we will respond then. And in a negotiation, it doesn’t make sense to tip your hand and say what you’re going to do going forward.”

So far, Canada had responded to Trump’s tariffs by imposing a 25 per cent tariff on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods — including items like orange juice, wine and spirits — despite the U.S. pausing its initial across-the-board levy threat back in February.

The federal government has said those retaliatory measures will remain in place until the U.S. lifts all of its tariffs on Canadian products.

The U.S. has also since imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum, prompting Canada to push back with similar tariffs on nearly $30 billion worth of American steel and aluminum products, along with additional imported goods.

In an effort to secure new export markets and reduce Canada’s reliance on the U.S., Carney spent his first official trip as prime minister in the U.K. and France.

“We will need to dramatically reduce our reliance on the United States,” Carney said Thursday. “We will need to pivot our trade relationships elsewhere, and we will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven’t seen in generations, but we can make ourselves more productive and, therefore, more competitive.”

On their respective election campaign trails, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh all weighed in on Trump’s tariffs and what Canada should do in response.

With files from CTV News’ Stephanie Ha

U.S. President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on trading partners are set to take effect on April 2, a day he has proclaimed as “Liberation Day” for American trade. CTV News will have extensive coverage across all platforms:

• CTVNews.ca will have in-depth coverage, real-time updates, and expert analysis on what the tariffs will mean for Canadians.
• CP24.com will report on any developments out of Queen’s Park and what the tariffs means for the people of the GTHA.
• BNNBloomberg.ca will explain what this means for the business community, investors, and the market.