Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says on Monday he wants to pressure the Trump administration into a deal granting Canada unfettered access to the U.S. market.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Mark Carney has broken his promise to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump and find a resolution to the ever-expanding trade war.
Speaking in Calgary Thursday, Mr. Poilievre called the U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods “unjustified and unjustifiable,” and he criticized the Prime Minister for failing to negotiate a deal with Mr. Trump to avoid them.
Mr. Trump increased tariffs on Canadian imports to 35 per cent on Aug. 1, up from 25 per cent. The figure represents a fraction of exports, however, as most are exempt under the rules of origin outlined in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade, known as USMCA. But steel and aluminum have been further targeted with 50-per-cent tariffs, and the auto sector with 25 per cent.
The federal government has said little publicly about the status of negotiations with the Americans since the revised tariffs took effect last week. The government has not announced any new retaliatory measures.
Mr. Poilievre said any countertariffs imposed by Ottawa must be narrow in scope in order to increase the pressure on the Trump administration to strike a deal that will grant Canada unfettered access to the U.S. market while mitigating the harm to consumers here. He said that means targeting things that will hit Americans hard while limiting impact on Canadians, including goods that can be made here or sourced elsewhere.
“Mark Carney promised that he would handle Donald Trump. That’s a quote. He said that he would negotiate a win with Donald Trump. He said that the deal would be done by July the 21st and then he said it would be done by August the first. Those promises were not kept,” Mr. Poilievre said.
“He has made concession after concession to President Trump. He’s been bending over backwards for the President and, so far, has gotten nothing in return.”
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Dominic LeBlanc, the minister in charge of Canada-U.S. relations, told American media over the weekend that he expects Mr. Carney and Mr. Trump to speak in the “next couple of days,” although no further details have been provided. He told The Globe last Friday that he would be speaking with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick this week and planned to meet in person later in August.
The Prime Minister did not answer questions from reporters on Thursday about whether he has spoken to the U.S. President. After a meeting with Métis leaders to discuss his government’s major projects legislation, Mr. Carney said the government is “focusing on what we can control.”
“And yes, we’re having discussions with the Americans, but Canadians want us to focus here at home,” he said in brief remarks.
Mr. LeBlanc did not answer questions from reporters Thursday about an update on when he will next speak with Mr. Lutnick, whom he met with recently in Washington.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
Mr. Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries on Thursday, even though months of tariff threats have begun to damage the U.S. economy.
Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10 per cent or higher.
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Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15 per cent, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh have been hit with 20-per-cent tariffs. Mr. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S.
Mr. Poilievre made the comments at the headquarters of EnQuest Energy Solutions Inc., an energy storage business, as he announced his party’s intention to introduce a motion in the fall for something called the Canadian Sovereignty Act.
He said the act would encourage economic development, reward companies that invest in large projects, protect Canadian innovation and get shovels in the ground on major nation-building projects between now and March 14, 2026 – the anniversary of Mr. Carney taking office.
By then, Mr. Poilievre said, his party wants to see construction on two new oil pipelines to a Canadian coast, a road to the Ring of Fire region in Ontario and a new greenfield liquefied natural gas project.
The act would also scrap various policies that Mr. Poilievre said stymy economic growth, including the tanker ban off Canada’s West Coast, the industrial carbon tax, the oil and gas emissions cap, and the electric vehicle sales mandate.
“Here in Canada, nothing gets done because Liberals ban things from getting done,” he said, accusing Mr. Carney of “ragging the puck” on taking action.
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And while Mr. Poilievre said the federal government’s Bill C-5 – which allows cabinet to expedite approvals and construction of projects of national interest – is “better than nothing,” it would do little for the energy sector if other policies are not quashed.
Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer during a television interview on Wednesday that Mr. Trump is probably “the most disliked politician in the world in Canada, because he’s attacked his closest family member.”
Mr. Ford, who on Tuesday warned that Mr. Trump is aiming to renegotiate USMCA ahead of schedule in a way that could harm Canada’s economy, said the President’s tariffs are costing American families money and threatening jobs.
He said Canada is now diversifying its trade with other countries and onshoring more products to be made domestically.
“I would rather, you know, work with our greatest ally and closest friend, and increase jobs in both countries. And if we can do that, we’d be the two strongest nations in the world economically,” Mr. Ford said.
“But unfortunately, President Trump doesn’t want to go down that avenue. He wants to hurt the American people, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.”
With a report from Emily Haws in Ottawa