Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday it will take time to solve economic and security issues between Canada and the U.S. amid President Donald Trump’s trade war, warning no “magic” single meeting will “unlock things.”
Carney is expected to hold his first conversation with Trump as prime minister in the coming days, as officials on both sides of the border continue talks on a broader trade relationship that Ottawa hopes will include exemptions from Trump’s punitive tariffs.
Carney told reporters in Iqaluit those tariffs and other actions from the Trump administration have “called into question the validity” of free trade rules enshrined in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which Trump negotiated during his first term.
“That means that we should have a broader conversation about our commercial relationship, which also involves a conversation about our security relationship with the United States,” he said.
“It won’t happen overnight. There’s no magic one meeting that is going to unlock things.”
Carney delivered that answer in response to a reporter’s question of whether he agrees with the view of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau, that Trump’s goal is to damage Canada economically in order to annex the country, as he has frequently threatened to do.
He said Trump “wants many things,” including an end to the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. and greater American investment and manufacturing, but did not list Canada as one of those things.
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“Canada is strong and it’s going to get stronger,” he said.
“We can give ourselves more than anything that President Trump or another trade partner can take away. That’s a basic point. And that if there is a misconception of that in the United States — I’m not saying the president has that misconception — but if there’s a misconception of that, we are going to disabuse that misconception.”
Canadian officials, including Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal ministers, travelled to Washington on Thursday for a lengthy sit-down with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and other Trump administration figures to discuss trade and tariffs hours before Carney was sworn in as prime minister.
The meeting came after Ford agreed a week ago to suspend a 25 per cent electricity surcharge he placed on exports to three states a day earlier. That concession came after Trump threatened to double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to 50 per cent in response to the surcharge.
The Canadians emerged from the meeting saying they felt positive about the road ahead for the bilateral relationship and trade issues.
Officials on both sides of the border had a follow-up conversation Monday night and plan to continue the discussion next week, Ford told reporters on Tuesday.
“As Secretary Lutnick told us, he’s not invading Canada and all the other nonsense that’s been going on,” Ford said. “He wants to boost up Canada. It’s in their best interest, after — if I can put it bluntly — after they fill their plate.”
Ford said he is keeping the surcharge on the table but won’t do anything to jeopardize negotiations.
“It’s always on the table,” he said. “But the last thing I want to do is antagonize and everyone goes to war again.”
Ford said Canada’s goal is to be first in line for exemptions on April 2, when Trump has said he will enact so-called “reciprocal” tariffs that match those imposed by foreign trading partners.
Lutnick said after last week’s meeting that the U.S. wants to “eliminate the current status quo” on free trade and establish “fairness.”
Carney was in Nunavut to announce a partnership with Australia to acquire over-the-horizon radar technology that can detect missiles and other incursions from adversaries like Russia and China in the Far North.
He said the $6.9 billion investment, first announced over two years ago, is part of a broader initiative to reaffirm Canada’s sovereignty in the Arctic amid foreign threats and allies’ pressure on Ottawa to do more for its own defence.
“We cannot and should not look first to others to defend our nation,” he said. “We are masters of our own house.”
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