Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated on Thursday that the country’s old relationships with the United States are “over” and promised a “comprehensive re-negotiation” of the trade agreement between the two nations.
Speaking in Ottawa after a meeting with the premiers of the provinces, Carney said the US-imposed tariffs would force Canada to re-examine and re-shape its economic plans and seek out “reliable” trade partners.
“The old relationships with the United States, which were based on a deep integration of our economies and a close security and military cooperation, are over” he told reporters.
“It will be time for a comprehensive re-negotiation of our security and trade relationships” he added, suggesting the future of the USMCA trade agreement, which was negotiated under the previous Trump administration, is in question.
Carney said Canada would counter the American tariffs with its own trade policy measures, designed to have “maximum impact in the US and minimum impact in Canada”.
On Wednesday, Trump announced the US would impose a 25% tariff on the import of foreign-made cars to boost the US auto industry.
The prime minister said the Canadian economy and its supply chains in critical sectors such as the auto industry would need to undergo fundamental changes to protect against further tariffs and US hostility.
“We will have to do some things differently. We will have to make some big changes” he said.
Carney added the Canadian auto sector could survive Trump’s tariffs, but would need “access to other markets” and the country would need to “re-conceptualize and re-build the auto sector”.
Carney, who is in the midst of a national election campaign with a vote scheduled for April 28, said he would speak with Trump “in the next one or two days”.