Carney hits back at Trump's auto tariffs, warns U.S. trade action will 'rupture the global economy'

Liberal Leader Mark Carney said Thursday U.S. President Donald Trump's move to levy tariffs on virtually every country will "rupture the global economy," torpedo economic growth and prompt devastating consequences for workers and businesses in this country and around the world.

Carney said Trump's tariffs against Canadian goods are "unjustified, unwarranted and misguided," and the country must hit back with what he called "carefully calibrated and targeted countermeasures" to make it clear Canada will not stand for this sort of economic broadside.

The Liberal leader said the government will levy a tariff on U.S.-made vehicles that are not compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, to match what the Americans did to the Canadian auto industry Wednesday.

"We must respond with both purpose and force," he said. "We are a free, sovereign and ambitious country. We are masters in our own home. We will fight to bring these tariffs to an end."

Carney said the U.S. trade war is already having an impact — Stellantis will idle its massive Windsor, Ont., auto assembly plant because of Trump's tariffs. Ottawa "will do everything in our power" to protect workers, including with financial assistance, he said.

Pursuing more 'reliable' trading partners

Carney, the former governor of the Bank of Canada, said the U.S. tariffs will be hugely disruptive for the American economy — growth will slow even as prices increase —and there could be a recession there soon, which means there could be knock-on effects in Canada.

Carney said Trump is dismantling the world trading system and Canada must make a hard pivot to build up its own economy and pursue better relations with "reliable" trading partners, including Commonwealth cousins like Australia and the U.K., but also Mexico, France and other countries in Europe.

"We must do extraordinary things for ourselves, we must do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven't seen in generations," Carney said, promising to turbocharge economic development with an ambitious building program.

"We are living in a new world now. It will be hard on Canadians but I have no doubt we will rise to the challenge," he said, adding that the country has rallied in the past in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and can do it again.

Carney said Canada's "old relationship" with the U.S. is "over" and the decades-long push to become more integrated with the Americans will come to an end as Trump ramps up his attacks on the country.

But Carney said there's still an opportunity to come to some sort of an agreement with Trump on economic and security issues after the upcoming federal election.

Carney said he agreed with Trump to sit down after the campaign — if he wins the election — to renegotiate CUSMA, which has been left in tatters as a result of the president's trade war.