Prime Minister Mark Carney says Donald Trump’s global tariff regime will fundamentally change the international trading system — but the announcement also saw Canada exempted from the so-called “liberation day” event. Trump announced a 10 per cent baseline tariff on imports from most countries and higher duties on dozens of nations he said run trade surpluses with the U-S. Trump says all foreign automobiles are going to be hit with 25 per cent tariffs. The White House said Canada and Mexico remain under previous economywide duties and are not subject to Trump’s latest tariffs.
As Liberal leader, Carney paused his federal election campaign to respond as prime minister to the latest round of tariffs. Carney says that the tariffs on automobiles are of particular concern, and that the White House has signalled to Canada that there may be more U.S. tariffs at a later date on other “strategic sectors” such as pharmaceuticals, lumber and semiconductors. Carney says the series of measures will directly affect millions of Canadians and Canada will fight the tariffs with countermeasures. Carney is to meet with Premier Rob Lantz and the other Premiers virtually today to discuss the tariff situation, and then later today he may have more to say regarding Canada’s response.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and the N-D-P’s Jagmeet Singh have told Canadians how they would handle the tariffs issued by U-S President Donald Trump. Poilievre promised to reduce Canada’s overdependence on other nations if he becomes prime minister, while also suggesting he would trigger an early renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement. Singh says he would change procurement rules to strengthen the purchase of Canadian products wherever possible if elected to lead.
