‘The U.S. has changed and we must respond,’ says PM Carney in direct address

Prime Minister Mark Carney discusses Canada's economic challenges, including the drastic shift in trade ties with the U.S. in a direct address to the nation.

With the United States acting more like an economic foe than an ally under the presidency of Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Canada’s former strength, built on our bond with America, has become a “weakness” that must be corrected.

In a pre-recorded address released Sunday morning, Carney said his intention was to talk “directly and regularly” about his plan for Canada and promised he would “never sugarcoat our challenges.”

The main point of this message, according to a source, was that during a time of disruption he wanted a venue where he could talk directly to Canadians, and in an extended format.

The world, he said, has become more “dangerous and divided,” and Canada must re-evaluate its most critical international relationships and undergo a shift in national strategy.

“The U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression,” said Carney in the nearly 10-minute-long address that was recorded in a home in Ottawa. “Many of our former strengths, based on our close ties to America, have become our weaknesses; weaknesses that we must correct.”

Workers in the auto, steel and lumber industries are “under threat” because of U.S. tariffs, he said, and businesses are holding back investments because of the “pall of uncertainty that’s hanging over all of us.”

“The U.S. has changed and we must respond,” said Carney, before launching into his Liberal government’s record and achievements, and invoking the “Canada Strong” plan he announced during the 2025 election campaign; a plan that was meant to Trump-proof the nation.

The new reality

Without naming the opposition Conservatives, Carney seemed to allude to them when he said there are “some who say there’s no need for a comprehensive plan” –- that Canadians should “wait it out” in the hope that U.S. relations will go back to how they were in the “good old days.”

He pointed out that young Canadians have experienced no such good days -- their entire lives having been impacted by the shocks and crises of global wars, financial strife and COVID-19.

He admitted his plans that include building new trade and energy corridors, doubling the size of clean energy capacity and creating “one Canadian economy out of 13” are ambitious. “But in a crisis, fortune favours the bold,” he said.

The prime minister then showed a small statue of Maj.-Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, the British army officer known as the “Hero of Upper Canada” for his role during the War of 1812. He said the statue, a gift from comedian Mike Myers, reminds him “that when we’re united as Canadians, we can withstand anything.”

“Before Canada even existed, it had a shape in Brock’s imagination,” said Carney. “Faced with the threat of an American invasion, Brock built alliances across our land and inspired what would eventually become Canada.”

Carney continued referencing history, saying it was an “ambitious” and “determined” Canada that built big things like the St. Lawrence Seaway, the CN Tower and the Trans-Canada Highway after the Second World War. He said his government is making big structural changes now, too, to “make us stronger at home and less reliant on the United States.”

He closed his message with a sentiment meant to instill confidence, invoking a practice called “forward guidance” that he developed during the financial crisis when he was governor of the Bank of Canada – a practice that involved using “overwhelming force against our problems until they were solved.”

“There’s much forward guidance to be found in our shared history. We will get through this because of who we have always been,” he said. “It’s our country. It’s our future. We are taking back control, to build Canada strong.”

‘Canadians don’t need Forward Guidance’

In a post on X, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said the prime minister is creating an illusion to distract from his “costly failures at home.”

“The Carney Liberals have given us the worst food inflation, the worst household debt, the worst housing costs, and the only shrinking economy in the G7,” he wrote.

He also said Carney was to blame for a deficit that has doubled since former prime minister Justin Trudeau left office, as well as creating ruptures with the U.S.

“Mark Carney’s talk of a rupture with the customer that buys two-thirds of our goods is not a plan. He has not negotiated a single new Free Trade Agreement with any country on earth,” Poilievre wrote.

Also on X, Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman posted a video, criticizing Carney’s lack of action, suggesting he was posturing rather than creating opportunities.

“Canadians don’t need Forward Guidance, they live in the real world,” Lantsman said. “A family filling up a grocery cart in Saskatoon doesn’t need Mark Carney’s economic philosophy. They need the bill at the checkout to stop going up.”

Lantsman also claimed that the country has lost $1 trillion in net investment over the last decade under the Liberal government.

“He talks about growth after his party spent years chasing away the people who actually build things,” she said. “He talks about boldness after a year of doing next to nothing, despite the extraordinary powers that he was given by Parliament.”