Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government is holding back on immediate retaliation to President Donald Trump’s decision to double steel and aluminum tariffs to 50%, citing ongoing talks between the two countries.
“We are in intensive negotiations with the Americans and in parallel preparing reprisals if those negotiations do not succeed,” Carney told the House of Commons during question period Wednesday.
The government is under mounting pressure to show strength after Trump’s decision to double tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50%. Carney called the tariffs “unjustified” and said they’re “illegal” and “bad for American workers, bad for American industry and, of course, for Canadian industry as well.”
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The Canadian Steel Producers Association urged the government to act quickly, saying the 50% tariff rate effectively closes the US market to Canadian steel.
“At a 50% tariff rate, the U.S. market is effectively closed to Canadian steel, leaving billions of dollars of Canadian steel without a market,” the industry group said in a statement.
Canada’s largest private sector union, Unifor, called for immediate retaliation and urged Canada to pause exports of critical minerals to the US. Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Carney not to “sit back and let President Trump steamroll us.”
Canada is the largest foreign supplier of steel to the US, representing about 6% of American consumption in 2024.
The trade war helped Carney’s Liberal Party win federal elections in recent weeks after Trump imposed sweeping tariffs and suggested Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. During a May visit to the White House, Carney told Trump that Canada is “not for sale.”
A US court recently struck down parts of Trump’s tariffs regime, ruling the president overstepped his constitutional authority. However, an appellate court paused the decision, keeping the tariffs in effect.
Read: Court Battles Over Trump Tariffs Create Trade Policy Chaos
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