Canada Set to Renew Trade Talks When US ‘Ready,’ Carney Says
Negotiators Were Making Progress, but Trump Says He Would End Talks After Premier Doug Ford's Reagan-Inspired Ad Criticized Tariffs
Key Takeaways:
- U.S. President Donald Trump halted trade negotiations with Canada on Oct. 23 after an Ontario government ad criticizing his tariffs aired on U.S. television.
- Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Oct. 24 that his government remains ready to resume talks once the U.S. is willing, noting progress on steel, aluminum and energy issues.
- Ontario suspended the C$75 million ad campaign to ease tensions, while Trump and Carney are expected to cross paths next week at international summits in Asia.
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his country is prepared to resume trade talks “when the Americans are ready,” hours after U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly halted negotiations between the two countries.
“We can’t control the trade policy of the United States,” Carney said Oct. 24 before boarding a government plane for a nine-day trip to Asia. “We recognize that that policy has fundamentally changed from the policy in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s.”
U.S. and Canadian negotiators were making headway in talks about the steel, aluminum and energy sectors, Carney said. “We stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions,” he added.
Trump announced late Oct. 23 he wouldendall negotiations with Ottawa over an advertisement critical of his tariffs on Canadian goods. The Ontario government, which sponsored the ad, said Oct. 24 it wouldstoprunning the ad after the U.S. president’s outburst.
The spot uses excerpts from a 1987 address by former President Ronald Reagan, in which the U.S. conservative icon defended free trade and slammed tariffs as an outdated idea. Trump posted on social media that the ad was “FAKE.”
The clips used in it are real but were spliced together from different parts of the speech. “Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” Trump wrote.
It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched.
Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.
Watch our new ad. — Doug Ford (@fordnation)
The president’s decision injected new uncertainty into one of the world’s largest bilateral trading relationships. The U.S. and Canada exchanged more than $900 billion in goods and services last year and have tightly connected industries such as autos and food. Goods had flowed easily across the border, tariff-free, for decades until Trump imposed what are now 35% duties on many of the country’s products, as well as industry-specific levies on cars and metals.
Trump has allowed exemptions for goods covered by the existing trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. But since taking office, Carney’s government has engaged in lengthy talks with the U.S. to ease the tariffs. Negotiations have recently focused on steel and aluminum tariffs, with the Carney administration making the case that lowering import taxes on the metals would benefit the American advanced manufacturing sector.
Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett expressed a different view on Oct. 24 of the state of the U.S.-Canada discussions.
“The fact is that the negotiations with the Canadians have not been very collegial. They’ve not been going well,” Hassett said on Fox News. “I think the president’s very frustrated.”
Carney’s efforts have been complicated by Ontario Premier Doug Ford, an outspoken opponent of Trump’s tariffs.
Indeed, Trump’s anger spilled over regarding the ad funded by Ford’s government, which has aired on U.S. television stations.
“Canada is trying to illegally influence the United States Supreme Court in one of the most important rulings in the history of our Country,” Trump wrote in one post. There’s no evidence that the ad violated any laws.
Ford initiallystood bythe decision to commission the ad and order a C$75 million ($53.5 million) campaign on U.S. networks, including during the broadcast of baseball’s World Series starting Oct. 24. But after speaking with Carney, Ford said the effort would be paused starting Oct. 27 “so that trade talks can resume.”
“Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses. We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels,” Ford posted on X.
Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses. We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels. I've directed my team to keep putting our… — Doug Ford (@fordnation)
The Ontario premier has annoyed White House officials before. He frequently advocates for retaliating against U.S. tariffs, banned U.S. wine and spirits from provincially run liquor stores and briefly imposed a surtax on electricity exports to the U.S.
The latter move drew a furious response from Trump, who threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and to “permanently shut down the automobile manufacturing business in Canada.”
Canada’s economy has been badly damaged by Trump’s tariffs, as about three quarters of its exported goods went to the U.S. last year. Ontario, which has about 16 million people, has been at the center of the trade war because of its steel and automotive industries, two sectors Trump has hit with his import taxes.
Canada ran a $36 billion trade surplus with the U.S. last year because American businesses buy millions of barrels a day of oil from western Canadian producers.
Trump and Carney are likely to see each other next week, as both will be attending the ASEAN and APEC summits in Malaysia and South Korea, respectively.
This isn’t the first time Trump has cut off talks with Canada. In June, the president said he was terminating all discussions because of Canada’s digital services tax, which would primarily be paid by US technology companies offering services in Canada. The Carney government quickly announced it would scrap the tax.
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