TORONTO (AP): Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats should be viewed as prepositioning ahead of negotiations to renew the free trade pact between the two large trading partners.
Carney noted they are entering a review of the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement this year and said he expects a “robust review.”“The president is a strong negotiator, and some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that,” Carney said. Trump threatened this past weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a trade deal with Beijing, though Carney has said Canada has no interest in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Carney spoke to Trump on Monday and Bessent told Fox News that Carney “was very aggressively walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made at Davos.”A spokesperson for Carney didn’t immediately respond when asked about the Carney-Trump call.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday and made it clear that the Canadians are negotiating a “narrow trade arrangement” with China that mostly deals with just “a few sectors of our economy.”
He compared that to an agreement Trump made with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea last summer in which the U.S. cut some tariffs on China while Beijing moved to allow rare earth exports and lift a pause on purchasing U.S. soy. LeBlanc also said upcoming talks were a review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and not a full-scale renegotiation of trade as happened during Trump’s first term.“It’s not six years ago We talked about that. This is a review,” LeBlanc said. “It was built into the agreement. It’s not a renegotiation.”LeBlanc said Canada is ready to move quickly.
In 2024, Canada mirrored the United States by putting a 100% tariff on electric vehicles from Beijing and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum. China had responded by imposing 100% import taxes on Canadian canola oil and meal and 25% on pork and seafood. Breaking with the United States this month during a visit to Beijing, Carney cut its 100% tariff on Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on those Canadian products.“Last week’s new strategic partnership with China will make available tens of thousands affordable electric vehicles in Canada,” Carney said Monday.
Carney has said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000 vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate of 6.1%, growing to about 70,000 over five years. He also has said the initial cap on Chinese EV imports was about 3% of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada annually and that, in exchange, China is expected to begin investing in the Canadian auto industry within three years.
Trump’s tariff threat came amid an escalating war of words with Carney as the Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland strained the NATO alliance. Carney has emerged as a spokesman for a movement for countries to find ways to link up and counter the U.S. under Trump. Speaking in Davos before Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu.” The prime minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks, upstaging Trump at the World Economic Forum.
Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has come after he has repeatedly needled Canada over its sovereignty and suggested it also be absorbed into the United States as a 51st state. He posted an altered image on social media last week showing a map of the United States that included Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part of its territory.
