Carney gives muted response to Trump's pledge to hike tariffs on Canada

Brian Platt, Bloomberg News on Oct 26, 2025

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney offered a terse response to President Donald Trump’s promise to further hike tariffs on Canadian goods, saying just that his government is prepared to resume trade talks with the U.S. at any time.

“Canada stands ready to build on the progress that we had been making in our negotiations or discussions with our American counterparts,” Carney told reporters in Malaysia, where he is attending the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting.

As Carney was traveling to Asia, Trump announced an additional 10% in tariffs on Canada in retaliation for a TV advertisement by the province of Ontario that’s airing in the U.S. The ad features excerpts of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan criticizing tariffs.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford had said he would stop airing the ad after the weekend, but Trump wasn’t mollified. “Because of their serious misrepresentation of the facts, and hostile act, I am increasing the Tariff on Canada by 10% over and above what they are paying now,” Trump said Saturday.

The U.S. president also told reporters aboard Air Force One that he didn’t anticipate meeting with the Canadian leader while both were in Asia for a pair of global summits.

Carney emphasized that trade talks with the U.S. are the “sole responsibility” of the federal government, and said such negotiations are “the best way forward.”

He added that his trip to Asia is focused on diversifying Canada’s trade relationships, with an overall aim of doubling exports to non-U.S. markets over the next decade.

Carney did not take questions from reporters, though is scheduled to do so on Monday afternoon.

Canada currently faces a U.S. base tariff of 35%, but the rate doesn’t apply to most Canadian goods because of an exemption for products and shipments made within the rules of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trump has not specified whether the tariff hike would keep that exemption.

The U.S. also has sectoral tariffs that are separate from the base rate. Canada’s steel and aluminum products are subject to 50% U.S. tariffs on foreign metals, and Canadian-made cars and trucks are only partially eligible for exemption from Trump’s 25% tariffs on most foreign autos.

Canadian government officials have spent weeks in negotiations aimed at lowering the metals tariffs, including a visit by Carney to the White House on Oct. 7. However, on Thursday Trump announced all trade talks with Canada were halted due to the Ontario TV ad.

“We can’t control the trade policy of the United States,” Carney said in response, before departing for Asia on Friday. He said the two sides had been making headway, and added Canada is ready to “build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions.”

In the meantime, Carney is using the nine-day Asia trip — during which he will also visit Singapore and attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea — to promote Canadian trade with the region.

In his opening remarks to the ASEAN summit on Sunday, Carney pointed to his goal of diversifying Canada’s trade away from the U.S., and cited his government’s effort to strike a free trade deal with the ASEAN bloc as a prime example.

He said Canada can be a crucial energy supplier to the region, particularly as his government aims to speed up construction of liquefied natural gas terminals on the Pacific coast. “Canada is a strong, reliable partner that has much of what the world wants,” Carney said in the speech.

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