The tone of the Canada-U.S. trade war appeared to soften Friday after Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump held their first-ever conversation, with the two leaders agreeing to comprehensive negotiations after the upcoming federal election.
Both Carney and Trump expressed optimism about the relationship between the two countries following the call, which came after Trump’s latest round of tariffs set to hit the country’s auto sector next week — even though the Prime Minister’s Office said Carney warned Trump that Canada will retaliate with its own tariffs on the U.S.
“The spirit of the call was both cordial and focused on making progress,” Carney told reporters at a campaign event in Montreal.
“The president respected Canada’s sovereignty today, both in his private and public comments.”
Trump on Friday repeatedly referred to Carney as “prime minister” after the call — a notable change from his repeated references to former prime minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” of a hypothetical 51st U.S. state.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he will “absolutely” follow through on his threat of “large scale tariffs” if Canada take actions against the U.S. economy. Yet he also toned down his language toward Canada, who he has previously accused of ripping off and “cheating” the U.S. on trade but declined to say so again.
“I’m not referring to Canada, but many other countries have been taking advantage of us,” he said when talking about the so-called “reciprocal” tariffs set for April 2, which he is calling “Liberation Day.”
“We had a very good talk, the prime minister and myself, and I think things are going to work out very well between Canada and the United States.”
Asked about Trump’s apparent change in tone, Carney said: “Perhaps there was a different impression before about how strong Canada really is.”
Carney said he and Trump “agreed to begin comprehensive negotiations about a new economic and security relationship between our two sovereign countries immediately following the federal election.”
“I made it clear that I will be working very hard … over the next month to earn the right to represent Canada in those discussions,” he said.
International Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is also running for re-election as the Liberal candidate for Beausejour in New Brunswick, will represent Canada in trade discussions during the campaign period, a readout of the call from the Prime Minister’s Office said. His conversations with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick “will intensify to address immediate concerns,” it added.
“The Prime Minister informed the President that his government will implement retaliatory tariffs to protect Canadian workers and our economy, following the announcement of additional U.S. trade actions on April 2, 2025,” the readout said.
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Carney would not go into detail about what those retaliatory tariffs would look like when asked Friday, referring back to the PMO statement.
He said Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, who is running for re-election as the Liberal candidate for Ahuntsic-Cartierville in Montreal and joined Carney at Friday’s event, will also continue her engagements with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Carney said Thursday he intended to make clear to Trump that the interests of both countries are best served by co-operation and mutual respect. He has previously said he would only speak to Trump when the U.S. president began respecting Canada’s sovereignty, after repeatedly threatening to absorb the country.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, he declared the “old relationship” of deeper economic and military cooperation with the U.S. “is over” due to Trump’s ever-increasing trade hostilities, and added Canada must “fundamentally reimagine our economy” to move away from its traditionally close ally.
Carney said Trump’s office had reached out Wednesday evening to schedule a call, after Trump signed an executive order for 25 per cent foreign-made cars, light trucks and auto parts.
The auto tariffs that are set to go into effect April 2 — along with an unclear set of global “reciprocal” tariffs — will not apply on U.S.-made parts in foreign-made vehicles, according to the order.
Yet they also come on top of existing 25 per cent tariffs on a majority of Canadian goods that are set to expand to all exports to the U.S. starting April 2, as well as 25 per cent tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum.
Carney said Friday that Trump made no indication that he plans to pull back on those existing tariffs or the ones on autos, which Trump said Wednesday will be “permanent” during his administration.
“This is the start of a process,” Carney said. “It underscores the importance of more intensive discussions.”
Carney meets with premiers on Canada’s response
Carney also met virtually with Canadian premiers on Friday after the call with Trump to discuss Canada’s tariff response.
He told reporters after the call he wanted to hear the premiers’ perspectives and feedback on possible federal “countermeasures,” and to continue discussions on building up the Canadian economy, including by expanding internal trade.
“In both respects, it was very timely and helpful to have those discussions,” he said.
A readout of the meeting from the Prime Minister’s Office said Carney also briefed the premiers on his conversation with Trump.
Carney said Thursday that Canada “will respond forcefully” to Trump’s tariffs and that “nothing is off the table,” but did not provide specifics and said any retaliation would wait until next week.
Ottawa had previously announced an additional planned round of tariffs on $125 billion worth of U.S. goods would be delayed until April 2. It has already responded with two rounds of retaliatory duties on American imports worth nearly $60 billion combined since early March.
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.”
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, during a visit Friday to an American military base in Greenland — another territory Trump has said he wants to take over — warned Canada not to retaliate against U.S. tariffs and defended Trump’s trade policies.
“They just don’t have the cards,” he told reporters. “There is no way Canada can win a trade war with the United States.”
Federal party leaders react to Trump call
The trade war has become a key campaign focus for all the main federal parties in the general election. Canadians are set to go to the polls on April 28.
Carney has had to press pause on his campaign as the Liberal Party leader to focus on Canada’s response to Trump’s trade actions.
Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre was campaigning in British Columbia on Friday, while NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was in Toronto.
Poilievre on Friday said he was glad to learn Carney and Trump had spoken and expressed hope the call was “successful.”
“I look forward to hearing about the results that they achieved with that conversation, for Canadians,” he said at a campaign event in Nanaimo, B.C.
“But regardless of what was said, what is now clear is that it was a mistake over the last lost Liberal decade to weaken our economy and become more dependent on the Americans.”
Asked about Trump’s Oval Office comments, Poilievre said he was hopeful they represented “a change in tone.”
“We want to put an end to this crazy tariff chaos,” he said.
Speaking at a campaign stop on Friday, Singh said removing Trump’s “illegal, unwarranted, unjustified” tariffs should be the top priority for Carney in his conversation with Trump, as well as underscoring “that we will never be the 51st state.”
“I want Canada to win. I want this call to be successful,” Singh said.
“There are many things that I’m going to attack Mark Carney on when it comes to domestic policy. But when it comes to our fight against Donald Trump, we all need to be united in fighting back against Donald Trump and protecting our country and protecting jobs.”
Both Poilievre and Singh have called for additional retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods, and that all revenues collected by the federal government from those tariffs go toward supporting Canadian workers affected by Trump’s actions.
Carney said Thursday his government has “committed to use every dollar collected from our retaliatory tariffs to protect our workers.”
Federal party leaders are also promising measures to protect Canada’s auto sector from the impacts of Trump’s tariffs, which industry groups say will drive up costs for consumers and impact workers on both sides of the border.
“We need a long-term solution that removes these unjustified tariffs and ensures stability and competitiveness for all North American businesses,” David Adams, president and CEO of the Global Automakers of Canada, said in a statement Thursday.