Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada should hold out for a stronger U.S. tariff agreement rather than chase quick relief on a narrower deal.
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada should not rush into a limited trade agreement with the United States simply to secure faster tariff relief, arguing Ottawa must wait for a deal that protects Canadian interests.
In an interview with CBC News’ The National on Monday, Carney said Canada is prepared to work toward an agreement that would lift some U.S. tariffs, but he signalled that the pace and shape of any deal will depend on whether Washington is ready to negotiate seriously.
“We need a good deal in the right time, and what we don’t need is chasing a small deal that disadvantages us,” Carney told CBC chief correspondent Adrienne Arsenault.
The dispute matters because the United States has kept major import levies on several Canadian goods, including steel, aluminum, copper, some automotive parts, lumber and other wood products. Those tariffs have remained a central irritant in the Canada-U.S. economic relationship and a pressure point for industries tied closely to cross-border trade.
Carney suggested a resolution could be reached quickly if the U.S. side were prepared to engage more fully. He said the two countries could “hammer the whole thing out” over 10 days if Washington had the “bandwidth and the inclination,” but added that “it takes two to negotiate it through.”
The prime minister also pointed to other countries that reached tariff arrangements with the United States over the past year, including the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union, saying those deals still left some tariffs in place. He did not identify which countries he believed had accepted poor terms, but said he did not think they were privately satisfied with the outcomes.
Canadian officials have said Canada and the United States appeared to be moving toward a deal last fall before President Donald Trump called off official talks after an Ontario government advertisement aired in the U.S. The ad featured former U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking about the effect of tariffs on consumers.
Carney described his dealings with Trump as “episodic dialogs” and said he tries to be direct with the U.S. president rather than soften Canada’s position. A New York Times summary of recent reporting also described Carney as pushing back against Trump administration officials and saying Canada was not “taking instructions from the United States.”
The prime minister’s comments leave the immediate timetable uncertain. Ottawa says it is ready to negotiate, but Carney’s message was that Canada will wait for a broader agreement rather than accept a faster deal that preserves key disadvantages.
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