Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made it known that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs have soured relations to the point of no return as he announced Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
“The global economy is fundamentally different today than it was yesterday,” said Carney, an economist who previously led the Bank of Canada, in an address to reporters on Thursday.
Trump’s Wednesday “Liberation Day” tariff announcement marked an escalatory step toward what economists fear could be trade war, reported CNN. In addition to a universal 10% tariff on all U.S. imports, Trump imposed a range of “reciprocal” tariffs on trade partners.
Trump spared Mexico and Canada from the universal tariff, but a 25% tariff on all foreign auto parts the countries export to the U.S. still remains. In response, Carney announced matching auto tariffs against the U.S. and mourned the end of an alliance between the two countries.
“The system of global trade anchored on the United States that Canada has relied on since the end of the second world war, a system that while not perfect has helped to deliver prosperity for our country for decades, is over,” said Carney, who replaced previous Liberal Party chief Justin Trudeau last month. “Our old relationship of steadily deepening immigration with the United States is over. The 80-year period where the United States embraced the mantle of global economic leadership, when it forged alliances rooted in trust and mutual respect and it championed the free and open exchange of goods and services, is over.”
Trump’s shock announcement sent stock markets tumbling around the world in response. Carney lamented that the tariffs would be devastating for Canada and the world’s economy—but suggested his country would make it through nonetheless by establishing new trade partnerships.
“While this is a tragedy, it is also the new reality,” Carney said. “We must respond with both purpose and force. We are a free, sovereign and ambitious country. We are masters in our own home.”
In an X post shortly after his speech, Carney revealed that Canada is looking to deepen trade relationships with countries other than the U.S., who had been its biggest trade partner.
“In my conversation with Chancellor Scholz this morning, we agreed to strengthen the diverse trade relationship between Canada and Germany,” he tweeted. “As we face the crisis caused by President Trump’s tariffs, reliable trade partners are more important than ever.”
