The Daily Populous Friday March 28th, 2025 night edition
Authored by globalnews.ca and submitted by joe4942

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Canada must “fundamentally reimagine our economy” in the face of escalating tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday, declaring the “old relationship” between Canada and the U.S. is “over.”

Carney promised to bring retaliatory measures, reduce internal trade barriers and pivot Canada’s economy away from reliance on the U.S., after Trump announced new auto tariffs that will begin next week.

“Over the coming weeks, months and years, we must fundamentally reimagine our economy,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa after meeting with the cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations.

“The old relationship we had with the United States, based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over.”

Carney wouldn’t say exactly what retaliatory measures the federal government will take in response to Trump’s latest round of tariffs. He said more will be announced on April 2, when the new auto tariffs and further “reciprocal” tariffs on all foreign trading partners are set to begin.

Carney confirmed he has not yet spoken to Trump since becoming prime minister earlier this month, but plans to do so in “the next day or two” after he said Trump reached out Wednesday evening to schedule a call.

“I appreciate the opportunity to discuss how we can protect our workers and build our economies,” Carney said. “I will make clear to the president that those interests are best served by cooperation and mutual respect, including of our sovereignty.”

Carney pressed pause on his federal election campaign as the Liberal Party leader Thursday to chair the cabinet committee meeting weighing Canada’s response to the fresh round of tariffs coming from Trump administration.

0:50 Carney pauses election campaign for day to tackle Trump auto tariffs

As per the caretaker convention, Carney can act in his prime ministerial capacity during an election campaign as long as his actions are routine, non-controversial, agreed to by opposition parties or “urgent and in the public interest.”

Carney reiterated his promise from last week after meeting with Canada’s premiers that a Liberal government, if re-elected, will ensure all federal limits on internal trade will be removed by July 1, and take steps to boost domestic investment.

“I reject any attempts to weaken Canada, to wear us down, to break us so that America can own us. That will never happen,” Carney said.

“Our response to these latest tariffs is to fight, to protect, and to build.”

Strategy to protect auto industry from tariffs

Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday for 25 per cent tariffs on all foreign-made cars and light trucks, in addition to tariffs already in place on those goods.

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The auto tariffs that are set to go into effect April 2 will not apply on U.S.-made parts in foreign-made vehicles, according to the order.

The new auto tariffs are in addition to 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods, as well as an additional 25 per cent on steel and aluminum imports and a 10 per cent levy on Canadian energy.

Global “reciprocal” tariffs on all foreign imports, including from Canada, are also planned for April 2, which is when the auto tariffs are expected to come into force.

Industry groups said Thursday the new tariffs will bring immediate consequences to Canada’s auto sector, warning of “chaos and damage” to the highly integrated North American supply chain where vehicles and components cross borders multiple times during production.

Carney referenced plans he had announced while campaigning as Liberal leader on Wednesday such as an “all in Canada” auto manufacturing network and a $2-billion “strategic response fund” to protect Canadian workers and shift reliance away from U.S. supply chains.

“We have a very clear strategy,” he said Thursday of “backwards integrating” the auto supply chain into steel and aluminum and critical minerals sectors to feed into each other domestically.

Carney has vowed, both prior to the election campaign as prime minister and while on the campaign trail as Liberal leader, to support workers and diversify the domestic economy.

3:57 ‘Unjustified, unwarranted and illegal’: Unifor reacts to Trump auto sector tariffs

Canada has already responded to Trump’s trade actions with counter-tariffs on almost $60 billion worth of American goods, which were announced in retaliation for the 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian goods and a subsequent round that was retaliation for the steel and aluminum tariffs.

Another round targeting $125 billion worth of U.S. goods is set to begin on April 2, and the government has not indicated those are off the table since Carney took over as prime minister.

Carney on Thursday rejected Trump’s threat from earlier in the day of “large scale” tariffs on Canada if it takes retaliatory actions that “do economic harm to the USA.”

“I take note of the president’s comment. I don’t take direction from him,” he said.

How are federal party leaders responding?

Trump’s tariffs and repeated threats to Canada’s sovereignty are emerging as a key campaign focus for the main federal parties in the 2025 election campaign.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre urged Trump to “knock it off” and “stop attacking America’s friends.”

“Here he goes again: attacking his closest neighbor and America’s best friend with new tariffs that will drive up the cost of living for American consumers and drive down American wages, while damaging a historic friendship,” he said at a campaign event in Coquitlam, B.C.

He said a Conservative government led by him would get the Canadian economy out from “under the American thumb” by reducing internal trade barriers, boosting resource projects and selling those resources to partners other than the U.S.

“If you, Mr. Trump, don’t want them, the rest of the world does,” he said.

2:29 Poilievre tells Trump to ‘knock it off,’ promises Canada won’t be reliant on U.S. anymore

Poilievre has proposed “dollar-for-dollar tariffs carefully aimed at maximizing impact on American companies while minimizing impact on Canadian consumers.”

He wants to “put all the tariff revenues into help for affected workers and businesses” and says the “government should not keep a dime of the new revenue.”

Carney said Thursday his government has “committed to use every dollar collected from our retaliatory tariffs to protect our workers.”

Speaking at a campaign stop in Windsor, Ont., NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Trump’s tariffs feel like a “betrayal” and “a gut punch,” adding that Canada needs to fight back.

“Donald Trump has started an illegal trade war with Canada, one of their best allies, for absolutely no reason and now workers are reeling,” Singh told reporters Thursday.

3:04 Trump auto tariffs a ‘gut punch’ to Canada ‘for absolutely no reason’: Singh

Singh said he will not be critical about the approach when it comes to Canada’s response to Trump’s trade actions, saying “we should all be united.”

“I’m on Team Canada when it comes to fighting back against Donald Trump in the negotiations. I want Canada to win.”

To support workers, Singh pledged Employment Insurance benefits to cover wages.

The NDP is also proposing to waive the GST off Canadian vehicles to incentivize people to buy local, Singh said.

Sea-Replacement-8794 on March 27th, 2025 at 20:32 UTC »

It’s not over because of the tariffs. We e argued about trade plenty of times. I wish journalists would stop writing obtuse headlines like this.

It’s “over”, because the USA is insulting the leader of Canada by calling him a governor, and insulting the entire country by saying it “only makes sense as the 51st state”. The U.S. is directly and seriously making threats to Canada’s autonomy as a country. That’s a much bigger deal than a freaking tariff dispute.

-CaptainFormula- on March 27th, 2025 at 20:22 UTC »

What's crazy is that no matter what happens with this senile pos his fans will clap and say it's all part of the plan. Doesn't matter what happens, it's supposed to happen. 4d chess and so on. Tribalism at it's most fear mongering.

Dude's doing his damnedest to weaken this country. Whether it's on purpose or if he really can't comprehend that there are actual negative consequences to these actions. You're not speaking in a vacuum here after all.

Having the military and industrial might that we have isn't the whole package that's kept us at the top since WW2. Having healthy relationships with multiple wealthy and influential countries that benefit from our station is a major part of that.

If all you have is the weapons and the world hates you then you're just the Soviet Union, destined to fall.

Thund3rbolt on March 27th, 2025 at 20:09 UTC »

It's a sad time in history. The greatest Alliance ever in the world between two countries is gone and might never come back to where it was. Both countries just got a lot weaker. Thanks Trump.