Canada Considers Countermoves Against New White House Trade Barriers
Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government is still studying whether to retaliate against the latest countermeasures from the United States in its trade war with Canada, but played down the severity of the most recent salvo from Washington.
“We’re looking closely at the measures that the Americans have just recently announced,” he told reporters in Banff, where his cabinet is holding a two-day retreat that wraps up on Friday.
Mr. Carney said he realized that for affected companies and sectors the reprisals are significant, but he added that in the context of previous retaliation taken by the U.S., “these are relatively modest measures and so we take that into context.”
Earlier this week, Canada’s former ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman told The Globe and Mail in an interview that she expected it would be months before Ottawa and Washington resume formal talks. Canada walked away from negotiations in August and Mr. Carney has said the U.S. trade proposals would “destroy” large Canadian industries, including automobiles, steel and aluminum.
Mr. Carney, during a separate press conference Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said he maintains regular contact with U.S. President Donald Trump despite the trade conflict. He said recent talks have focused on matters related to Ukraine and Iran.
“We continue to work with the United States. We can compartmentalize,” he said.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump issued a sweeping ban on imports of Canadian alcohol, motorcycles and some dairy products as Washington ratcheted up pressure in response to Ottawa’s latest countertariffs, heightening a trade war that has been ramping up since Canada walked away from the negotiating table last month.
In addition, Washington adjusted a number of the levies it imposed last month using Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 – adding 110 new items to the list, while removing a handful of others.
Mr. Trump also said he would order the U.S. General Services Administration to remove Canadian products from its Multiple Award Schedule program, which government agencies use to purchase things such as information technology and office supplies – a blow to companies selling from Canada.
These measures are expected to come into effect in the coming weeks.
Asked if the fact there is a delay before these new import bans take effect means the U.S. is leaving an option for talks to resume, the Prime Minister said it’s up to Washington to say. “It’s really for the Americans to answer the question, but I wouldn’t overinterpret a delay, if you will, or a lag,” he said.
“We’re always ready to sit down in a professional way to negotiate. We think there is a mutually beneficial deal possible that respects our sovereignty and is in the interest of both countries.”
Separately, in New York, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke out in support of tariff-free trade with the U.S. but declined to criticize Mr. Carney’s handling of the trade dispute when asked by CNBC. “Look, I’m not going to attack my Prime Minister on foreign soil,” he told the network Thursday. “It’s just not something I am going to do.”
He said the U.S. started this war.
“The administration hit us with tariffs first, and everything escalated thereafter.”
Mr. Poilievre told CNBC that Canadians are feeling wounded over how their country ended up as a major target for Mr. Trump.
“We’re kind of confused as to how it is suddenly that Canada ended up in the crosshairs.”
He said removing tariffs will help Americans. “We can save money and jobs for both our people if we get back to two-way tariff-free trade. That will bring down the cost of living for Americans. It will grow pay cheques on both sides of the border.”
Ian Bremmer, president of the research and consulting firm Eurasia Group, was among the people briefing Mr. Carney’s cabinet retreat. Ahead of those meetings, Mr. Bremmer told reporters that the federal government needs to prepare for tariffs to be a permanent part of the trade relationship with the U.S. – no matter who is in the White House.
“There’s almost no one in Washington that wants to stop taking in income from tariffs,” he said. “The United States is not going to be the architect or the proponent of a global free trading system, but rather we’re going to see more industrial policies, more subsidies, more tariffs.”
Mr. Bremmer said Ottawa needs to separate out the permanent changes in U.S. policy that Mr. Trump has spearheaded and the President’s “unpredictability and unreliability.”
“I do not believe it will ever come back to what it was, but I also think there’s a great deal of repair that can and will be done.”
Mr. Bremmer has many ties to Mr. Carney and his advisers, and the Prime Minister’s wife, Diana Fox Carney, works for the Eurasia Group. Mr. Bremmer said he was not paid to attend the retreat and does not do any lobbying work.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
