Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s auto tariffs are a “direct attack” on his country and that the trade war is hurting Americans, noting that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low.
Trump said earlier Wednesday that he was placing 25% tariffs on auto imports and, to underscore his intention, he stated, “This is permanent.”
“This is a very direct attack,” Carney responded. “We will defend our workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country.”
Carney said he needs to see the details of Trump’s executive order before taking retaliatory measures. He called it unjustified and said he will leave the election campaign to go to Ottawa on Thursday to chair his special Cabinet committee on U.S. relations.
Carney earlier announced a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by Trump’s tariffs.
Autos are Canada’s second-largest export. Carney noted the sector employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another 500,000 in related industries.
“Canada will be there for auto workers,” he said.
Trump previously granted a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers.
The president has plunged the U.S. into a global trade war — all while on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.
The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its U.S consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021.
Trump previously placed 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as on all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.
