As 25-per-cent auto tariffs hit Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney is vowing to fight back.
Speaking Wednesday (April 2) after U.S. President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day reciprocal tariffs," Carney said Canada will be fighting the tariffs with counter measures.
"We are going to protect our workers and we are going to build the strongest economy in the G7. In a crisis, it's important to come together and it's essential to act with purpose and with force and that's what we will do."
Carney paused his election campaign Tuesday evening to head back to Ottawa ahead of the United States' tease of more tariffs.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a "minimum baseline tariff" on Wednesday during an event he and the White House dubbed "Liberation Day." The executive order instituted reciprocal tariffs on countries throughout the world," but Canada and Mexico, the two other countries in the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, didn't appear to be on the table Trump presented.
The executive order does institute a "minimum baseline tariff" on all countries.
Thursday also marked the start of 25-per-cent auto tariffs, which Trump announced on March 26.
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre said Canada can't control what the president does.
"We know that we can't control the decisions that the president makes, but we know we can control the decisions we make about our own destiny here at home. The president will have a fork in the road: either he'll continue to hold the threat of tariffs over our heads for the next three-and-a-half-years or we'll secure a deal that provides permanent relief to our economies now paralyzed by uncertainty."
Poilievre said he doesn't know which way Trump will go, "so Canada must be prepared either way."
"A renewed trade deal with the Americans would be ideal, but it's not the entire solution to our economy."
He added a credible plan to deal with Trump must pair growth with or without reliable trade with the Americans.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is set to lay out his plan for "nation-building, war-time measures to Trump-proof Canada."
