The government of leftist Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney dropped tariffs on American and Chinese imports of steel and aluminum, Reuters reported on Monday — the latest in a string of measures favorable to American commerce in the country.
Carney’s Liberal Party won the general election in the country in April on a promise to aggressively confront President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, which the American leader intended to use to renegotiate the trade relationships America has built with its economic partners. Canada was largely exempt from Trump’s tariffs due to its participation in the United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement, but that did not stop Carney from declaring that Canada would end its longstanding friendly ties to America and decisively force Trump to drop tariffs.
Far from any sort of confrontation, Carney has enjoyed a jovial and friendly relationship with Trump. He has also not taken any substantive measures to sever U.S.-Canadian ties and has slowly lifted the few retaliatory trade moves he and predecessor Justin Trudeau had taken to counter Trump.
According to Reuters, the Carney administration lifted steel and aluminum tariffs on American and Canadian goods that had initially been intended as a response to American tariffs on the same Canadian products. The official order lifting the tariffs was reportedly dated October 15 and issued via the Canadian Ministry of Finance. The document that Reuters viewed, which it reported confirmed the move, was dated Friday, October 17.
In addition to Chinese metal products, “The ministry also exempted from tariffs some U.S. steel and aluminum products primarily linked to public health, national security, manufacturing, agriculture, and food packaging,” the document said.
Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne confirmed the easing of tariffs in a public statement in which he argued that the affected products did not have easily obtainable Canadian analogs, which meant the tariffs were placing undue pressure on domestic industry instead of pressuring America and Canada.
“There are some steel products that you just don’t make in Canada,” Champagne argued, “so you need to make sure that, you know, industry can still procure these products.”
The move preceded comments on Tuesday from Carney himself that hinted to the possibility of Canada inking a completed trade agreement with America in the near future, including potentially on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next week.
Carney insisted to reporters they should not “overplay it,” but such a deal was not impossible.
Separately, the Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, that a deal specifically to govern trade in steel, aluminum, and energy between Washington and Carney could be ready by the APEC summit.
“Such a deal would offer long-sought relief for the Canadian metals industry, which has been among the hardest hit in this country by U.S. tariffs,” the newspaper noted, adding, “But the sources say the Americans are not ready to make any deal on automobiles or softwood lumber, two of Canada’s most important exports to the United States.”
The sources added that, while an agreement to lower tariffs is possible, it may require Canada to accept quotas on imports that would protect the American steel industry.
Canada first imposed tariffs on American imports in March in response to tariff boosts by Trump. Carney removed most of these tariffs in September, but kept those on steel, aluminum, and cars. These tariffs stand at 25 percent today. The American tariffs stand at 50 percent on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Carney, who did not have any political experience prior to becoming prime minister, campaigned heavily as the best choice for voters who wanted Canada to take an aggressive stance against Trump.
“We are going to fight these tariffs with countermeasures. We are going to protect our workers and we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7,” Carney promised in April — in response to Trump announcing tariffs that did not affect Canada. “In a crisis, it’s important to come together and it’s essential to act with purpose and with force, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Carney vowed hie would “fundamentally reimagine” the Canadian economy by severing ties to the United States and portrayed his opponent, longtime Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, as too friendly to Trump. In reality, Trump endorsed Carney, calling Poilievre “stupid” for keeping a distance from the White House.
“I think it’s easier to deal, actually, with a Liberal. And maybe they’re going to win, but I don’t really care. It doesn’t matter to me at all,” Trump said in an interview in March.
Following Carney’s election, he has been publicly complimentary and warm toward Trump. Trump has also been highly complimentary of the Liberal leader, though not without regularly joking that he is planning to annex Canada. During his most recent visit to the White House in October, Carney tried to compliment Trump by listing what he thought were the president’s most impressive achievements, to which Trump added at the end, “The merger of Canada and the United States!”
During last week’s summit to sign a peace deal ending the war between Israel and the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas, Carney ribbed Trump for apparently referring to him as president rather than prime minister, joking, “I’m glad you upgraded me to president.”
Trump slapped him on the arm and replied, “At least I didn’t say governor!”
Trump regularly mocked Justin Trudeau by referring to him as the “governor” of the “state” of Canada while he was in office.
Poilievre, who recently returned to Parliament after losing not only the prime ministership but his own lawmaking seat in the April election, condemned the Carney administration’s lifting of tariffs on Monday — but emphasized the benefit to China, rather than America.
“Mark Carney breaks his promise to tariff Chinese steel and rewards Beijing for tariffing our canola. As always, he manages to get nothing in return for his latest capitulation,” Poilievre remarked in a statement on social media.
Carney’s relationship with China has also been extremely warm, including during his days as a finance professional prior to entering politics. Carney met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, the country’s second-in-command after dictator Xi Jinping, during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. On that occasion, according to Chinese state media, Li demanded Carney “adopt a correct perception of China, and respect each other’s core interests.”
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