Canadian PM says US tariffs have raised costs for American families and disrupted decades-old trade ties as Ottawa moves to protect manufacturers
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled a multibillion-dollar plan to protect Canada’s manufacturing sector from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, warning that the trade measures have raised costs for American families and put Canadian businesses at a disadvantage.
AP reported that Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a plan worth 8.7 billion Canadian dollars ($6.2 billion) to support steelmakers, automakers and critical mineral development in Ontario, the country’s manufacturing heartland.
“US tariffs have upended a trade bargain that’s existed for decades,” Carney said. “They’ve raised costs for American families while putting Ontario workers and businesses at a disadvantage and under a cloud of uncertainty.”
The announcement comes amid growing tensions between Ottawa and Washington over trade, with Trump repeatedly pushing for automakers to shift production from Canada to the United States.
Billions to protect Canadian manufacturing
The support package includes CA$5.2 billion ($3.7 billion) over five years for steelmakers and CA$2.5 billion ($1.8 billion) for automakers. Ottawa will contribute CA$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) towards the automotive sector.
The announcement comes as US-owned steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs announced layoffs at its Hamilton plant in Ontario, underscoring the impact of the trade dispute on Canadian manufacturing.
More from WorldCarney said an integrated North American automotive industry would benefit both countries but acknowledged that Washington’s priorities had changed.
“Their approach has changed,” he said. “So must ours.”
Carney said he had spoken to Trump for “quite some time” about several issues, including trade. Their discussions also covered Iran and the Middle East, while Ukraine was discussed in an earlier conversation.
He did not indicate any breakthrough in trade negotiations but said Canada remained ready to negotiate.
Talks collapsed in August after the two countries appeared close to reaching an agreement. Trump subsequently imposed 50 per cent tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods, prompting retaliatory measures from Ottawa.
Ford said Canada’s relationship with the US had undergone a lasting shift.
“It’s clear that Canada’s relationship with the United States has changed permanently,” he said. “No matter what happens in the midterms, no matter who sits in the White House, we’re not going back to the way things were.”
Trump’s trade policies and repeated threats to make Canada the 51st US state have fuelled a rise in Canadian nationalism. Carney has made reducing the country’s reliance on its southern neighbour a priority, setting a target of doubling exports to other markets over the next decade.
US Embassy accuses Canadian politicians of interference
The trade dispute has also spilled into political tensions ahead of next month’s US midterm elections.
On Wednesday, the US Embassy in Canada issued a fact sheet accusing Canadian politicians of seeking to influence American politics. Carney and Ford rejected suggestions that their actions amounted to improper interference.
The statement singled out Canadian Industry Minister Mélanie Joly for discussing retaliatory tariffs targeting Republican states. It also criticised Ford for airing a US advertisement featuring former President Ronald Reagan speaking against tariffs.
Trump abruptly cancelled trade talks with Canada after the advertisement aired during the World Series in October 2025.
The embassy also cited 11 Canadians charged with illegally voting in US elections between 2012 and 2026, but did not link the cases to the Canadian government.
The Trump administration has launched a government-wide effort to investigate and prosecute non-citizen voting. Election experts and administrators, however, describe the practice as a comparatively small issue.
The US Department of Justice said it had arrested more than 200 people since the beginning of 2026 for illegally voting as non-citizens in past elections. The number remains small compared with the tens of millions of people who regularly vote in US elections.
Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal, rejected the embassy’s allegations.
“The items featured in the US embassy’s ‘fact sheet’ are not genuine examples of foreign interference and the implicit assumption that Canada could significantly alter the outcome of the midterms is absurd,” he said.
