Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney cautioned markets that the Canadian government is both ready and willing to start retaliatory trade actions against US President Donald Trump. The White House is set to kick off a wide array of tariffs across the board that will enact sharp economic pain on all of the US’s foreign trading partners and constituents at the same time. Governments across the globe are preparing, or have already begun enacting, targeted response tariffs that are already taking a bite out of regional budgets across the US.
During his statements, Canadian PM Carney highlighted that it remains unlikely the US will cave on proposed lumber tariffs specifically against Canada. However, the PM’s statements highlighted a particular difficulty that has faced most of the US’s trading partners since Donald Trump took up residence in the White House just 66 days ago: the Trump administration has done a terrible job of conveying its own messaging on tariffs, and nobody trying to do business with the US is actually clear on what President Trump wants.
Key highlights
Our response to these latest tariffs is to fight.
We will fight the US tariffs with retaliatory trade actions of our own.
It is clear that the United States is no longer a reliable partner.
It is possible that with comprehensive negotiations, we will be able to restore some trust with the United States.
Trump reached out on Wednesday night to schedule a call.
I will speak to Premiers on Friday as well as business and union leaders to develop a coordinated response to what Trump does on April
Nothing is off the table when it comes to defending our workers and our country.
The road ahead will be long. There is no silver bullet, there is no quick fix.
We will do everything in our power to protect our businesses.
The old relationship we had with the US, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over.
When Trump threatens us again, we will fight back. We will fight back with everything we have to get the best deal for Canada.
I will speak to Trump in the next day or two.
We have the best deal of a bad deal within what the Americans have proposed on auto tariffs.
We will respond next week when we know what the US is proposing.
It’s possible some Canadian cabinet ministers could go to Washington next week for talks.
The US is likely to follow through with lumber tariffs.
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