Canadian Prime Minister Carney calls Trump's auto tariffs a 'direct
attack' on his country
[March 27, 2025] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Wednesday that
U.S. President Donald Trump's auto tariffs are a “direct attack” on his
country and that the trade war is hurting Americans, noting that
American consumer confidence is at a multi-year low.
Trump said earlier Wednesday that he was placing 25% tariffs on auto
imports and, to underscore his intention, he stated, “This is
permanent.”
“This is a very direct attack,” Carney responded. “We will defend our
workers. We will defend our companies. We will defend our country.”
Carney said he needs to see the details of Trump's executive order
before taking retaliatory measures. He called it unjustified and said he
will leave the election campaign to go to Ottawa on Thursday to chair
his special Cabinet committee on U.S. relations.
Carney earlier announced a CA$2 billion ($1.4 billion) “strategic
response fund” that will protect Canadian auto jobs affected by Trump’s
tariffs.
Autos are Canada’s second-largest export. Carney noted the sector
employs 125,000 Canadians directly and almost another 500,000 in related
industries.
“Canada will be there for auto workers,” he said.
Trump previously granted a one-month exemption on his stiff new tariffs
on imports from Mexico and Canada for U.S. automakers.
The president has plunged the U.S. into a global trade war — all while
on-again, off-again new levies continue to escalate uncertainty.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its U.S consumer confidence
index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly
decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021.
“His trade war is hurting American consumers and workers and it will
hurt more. I see that American consumer confidence is at a multi-year
low,” Carney said earlier while campaigning in Windsor, Ontario ahead of
Canada’s April 28 election.
The tax hike on auto imports starting in April means automakers could
face higher costs and lower sales.
Trump previously placed 25% tariffs on Canada’s steel and aluminum and
is threatening sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products — as well as on
all of America’s trading partners — on April 2.
“He wants to break us so America can own us,” Carney said. “And it will
never ever happen because we just don’t look out for ourselves, we look
out for each other.”
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Unifor auto workers stand behind Liberal Leader Mark Carney as he
speaks during a campaign stop at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor,
Ont., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (Frank Gunn /The Canadian Press
via AP)
 Carney, a former two-time central
banker in Canada and the U.K., made the earlier comments while
campaigning against the backdrop of the Ambassador Bridge, which is
considered the busiest U.S.-Canadian border crossing, carrying 25%
of all trade between the two countries. It plays an especially
important role in auto manufacturing.
Carney said the bridge carries $140 billion Canadian dollars ($98
billion) in goods every year and CA$400 million ($281 million) per
day.
"Now those numbers and the jobs and the paychecks that depend on
that are in question," Carney said. “The relationship between Canada
and the United States has changed. We did not change it.”
In the auto sector, parts can go back and forth across the Canada-U.S.
border several times before being fully assembled in Ontario or
Michigan.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province has the bulk of Canada’s
auto industry, said auto plants on both sides the border will shut
simultaneously if the tariffs go ahead.
“President is calling it Liberation Day. I call it Termination Day
for American workers. I know President Trump likes tell people ’Your
fired!” I didn’t think he meant U.S. auto workers when he said it,”
Ford said.
Trump has declared a trade war on his northern neighbor and
continues to call for Canada to become the 51st state, a position
that has infuriated Canadians.
Canadians booed Trump repeatedly at a Carney election rally in
Kitchener, Ontario.
The new prime minister, sworn in March 14, still hasn’t had a phone
call with Trump. It is unusual for a U.S. president and Canadian
prime minister to go so long without talking after a new leader
takes office.
“It would be appropriate that the president and I speak given the
action that he has taken. I’m sure that will happen soon,” Carney
said.
Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said the tariffs
will damage American auto workers just as they will damage Canadian
auto workers.
"The message to President Trump should be to knock it off,"
Poilievre said. “He's changed his mind before. He's done this twice,
puts them on, takes them off. We can suspect that may well happen
again.”
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