Carney calls U.S. auto tariffs a ‘direct attack’ on workers

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WINDSOR, Ont. — Liberal Leader Mark Carney called U.S. President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs a “direct attack” on Canadian workers Wednesday, warning that the move will hurt Canadians but promising to make Canadian industry more independent for its long-term survival.

Trump’s move to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all automobile imports to the United States on April 2 was signed as an executive order Wednesday, hours after Carney held a campaign stop under the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor to promise a $2 billion fund to help the auto industry survive and thrive.

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Speaking to reporters Wednesday evening after Trump’s announcement, Carney said he was suspending his campaign plans for Thursday and returning to Ottawa to hold a meeting of the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee to respond to the latest tariff move by the White House.

Carney said the Liberal government has imposed some retaliatory tariffs already, made a commitment to “use every dollar” collected from those retaliatory tariffs to support workers, and moved last week to introduce aid to help companies including allowing them to defer income tax and GST or HST remittances from April 2 to the end of June to provide up to $40 billion in liquidity.

“There’ll be more,” he said, adding there are additional options for retaliatory tariffs.

Carney called the new round of tariffs “unjustified” and “inconsistent” with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade.

But he said it’s time for Canada to do more to shield itself from actions like this by becoming more self-sufficient and finding new markets.

“This will hurt us, but through this period, by being together, we will emerge stronger,” Carney said.

“Canadian workers, Canadians as a whole across this country have gotten over the shock of the betrayal. And are learning lessons. We have to look out for ourselves, and we have to look out for each other and work together for each other.”

Carney said it would be “appropriate” that he and Trump speak soon, but said he could not say when that would happen. He has previously said he won’t engage in significant trade discussions with Trump until the president shows respect to Canada and stops threatening its sovereignty.

At a rally in Kitchener, Ont., on Wednesday evening, Carney said “we need a united front of workers, of labour, of business, of governments to help us navigate these stormy seas.”

Trump moved earlier this month to impose auto tariffs but paused them for a month after a meeting with major U.S. automakers. He had not said when he would resume the plan, but midday Wednesday his press secretary said he’d have an announcement on tariffs.

Carney’s plan to campaign on aid for the auto sector was underway before that announcement. He said the $2 billion fund would protect the jobs of workers affected by the tariffs and “fortify the entire Canadian auto supply chain, from raw materials to finished vehicles.”

The fund would also be aimed at boosting competitiveness in the sector and helping workers improve their skills.

Carney noted the auto sector “supports 125,000 jobs directly, and almost another 500,000 jobs in related industries.”

The Liberals are also promising to build a Canadian network for manufacturing component parts -- to build more car parts in Canada and limit the number of times those parts cross the border during automotive production.

Windsor is home to Canada’s auto manufacturing sector, which is extremely integrated with the U.S. industry and very vulnerable to tariffs.

“On average, an auto part crosses that border, often ... six times before final assembly and in a trade war, that’s a huge vulnerability,” Carney said.

The auto tariffs on April 2 may be accompanied by additional tariffs as that is the date Trump has promised to introduce sweeping new reciprocal tariffs, in addition to previously delayed tariffs on some Canadian and Mexican goods. He has already imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum and is promising further tariffs on a host of other products including lumber and pharmaceuticals.

Trump has said repeatedly he wants auto manufacturing to relocate to the U.S.

On the campaign trail, Carney also faced questions Wednesday about a Radio-Canada story that said he co-chaired two investment funds registered in Bermuda -- a known tax haven -- while he worked at Brookfield Asset Management. The two funds were dedicated to the transition to a net-zero carbon economy, Radio-Canada said, and were worth a total of $25 billion.

Carney said the funds are structured to benefit the Canadian pension funds that invest in them and that “the beneficiaries of those pension funds, teachers, retirees, municipal employees, they pay the taxes on their pension.”

Carney said the “flow-through of the funds go to Canadian entities who then pay the taxes appropriately, as opposed to taxes being paid multiple times before they get there.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh told reporters at a stop in Hamilton that Carney chose to register the funds in Bermuda for “the sole reason of avoiding paying taxes.”

“It makes me wonder, is he going to be working for families ΓǪ or is he going to continue to favour the companies that he worked for, like Brookfield?” he asked. “Is he going to allow them to get away with skirting paying their fair share?”

Speaking in Montmagny, Que., Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre accused Carney of shipping “his investments off to Bermuda to dodge his obligations to this country.”

“That’s money that should be going in tax revenue to fund our schools and our hospitals, but instead it’s going to pad the pockets of millionaires and billionaires like him.”

By Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

— With files from Anja Karadeglija in Ottawa and David Baxter in Hamilton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2025.