(BBC News) Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada’s old relationship with the United States, “based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation, is over.”
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa after a cabinet meeting, Carney said Canadians must “fundamentally reimagine our economy” in the face of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
He said Canada would respond with retaliatory tariffs that will have “maximum impact” on the US.
Trump announced on Wednesday he would target imported vehicles and vehicle parts with a 25% tax, stating: “This is permanent.”
Carney, the Liberal Party leader, called the original Canada-US Automotive Products Agreement signed in 1965 the most important deal in his lifetime.
“That’s finished with these tariffs,” he said in French.
He continued that Canada can sustain an auto industry with the US tariffs provided the government and business community work to “reimagine” and “retool” the industry.
Canada needs to build an economy Canadians can control, he said, and that would include rethinking its trade relationship with other partners.
It remains to be seen whether Canadians can have a strong trading relationship with the United States going forward, he added.
