Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney offered a bleak assessment of the U.S.-Canadian relationship this week, while announcing new support for his country’s steel and lumber industries – targeted by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
“We know that this decades-long process of our ever-closer economic relationship between Canada and the United States has ended, and as a consequence of that, many of our strengths have become our vulnerabilities, particularly in those industries that are most tightly integrated with the United States,” Carney said to reporters on Ottawa’s Parliament Hill on Wednesday.
Carney announced that his government would put new restrictions on the amount of steel and lumber imported into Canada, in an effort to help domestic producers. Canada’s CTV News reported, “Among the new measures is further limiting foreign steel imports from countries without a free trade agreement with Canada — from 50 to 20 per cent of 2024 levels — a measure largely aimed at reducing Chinese steel imports.” The report added:
The government will also reduce quotas for countries with which Canada has a free trade agreement – excluding the U.S. and Mexico – going from 100 per cent to 75 per cent of 2024 levels, and impose a global 25 per cent tariff on targeted imported products made from steel.
Canada will also reduce “freight rates to ship steel and lumber across Canada by 50 per cent, starting next spring,” and continue to implement its “ Buy Canadian Policy” for the country’s defense and public construction sectors. Carney’s new protectionist policies are a direct result of Trump slapping steep tariffs on Canada, which has long built its economy around open trade with the U.S. – its largest trading partner.
Carney and Trump have managed to maintain a close relationship, with Carney visiting the White House and engaging in warm press events with Trump. Canada, which is also the U.S.’s largest trading partner, has also made up the largest share of international tourists into the U.S.”Canadians traditionally make up the largest group of international tourists to the U.S., totalling 28 per cent of its 72.4 million visitors in 2024,” noted the Canadian Broadcasting Company this month while reporting on the continued Canadian tourism boycott of the U.S., which is costing the U.S. economy billions.
