US Canada trade war: Old ties with US over, says Canada’s new PM Mark Carney amid Donald Trump’s tariff threats

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday declared that the old economic and defence ties with the US were over after his US counterpart, Donald Trump, imposed a 25 percent tariff on automobile imports. In response, Carney called it a “very direct attack” on the Canadian economy.

“The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperations, is over,” Prime Minister Carney told reporters today. “The time will come for a broad renegotiation of our security and trade relationship.”

The 60-year-old, who replaced Justin Trudeau last month, said that he was “unclear” about what the Trump administration’s next move would be.

“What is clear is that we as Canadians have agency. We have power. We are masters in our own home,” he said. “We control our destiny. We can give ourselves much more than any foreign government, including the United States, can ever take away.”

Prime Minister Carney was speaking in Ottawa following a meeting with provincial leaders, where he discussed Trump’s new tariff policy.

Ahead of the meeting in Ottawa, Carney said that Trump’s tariff action will lead to potential economic distress among US consumers.

“This is a very direct attack. We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country,” Carney stated earlier.

Calling the tariffs “unjustified,” Carney said that he would look into Trump’s latest executive order before announcing any retaliatory tariffs.

The automobile sector employs nearly 125,000 Canadians and another half a million in related industries, making it Canada’s second-largest export sector.

Earlier, Trump had exempted auto imports from Mexico and Canada from tariffs.

On April 2, the Trump administration also imposed a 25 percent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum imports, dealing a huge blow to one of the US’s top trading partners.