Prime Minister Mark Carney has made clear that Ottawa is in no rush to bow to American pressure, telling reporters last Wednesday that Canada is simultaneously prepared to enter detailed trade negotiations with the United States and equally prepared to do nothing at all.
“We’re ready to go into detailed negotiations. We’re also ready to wait, if that’s what has to happen,” Carney said during a press conference in Ottawa on April 23.
The remarks come as Washington and Mexico City have been making comparatively steady headway in their own bilateral trade discussions, leaving Canada somewhat on the outside looking in ahead of what could be a pivotal round of Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement talks scheduled for July.
Carney acknowledged that the two governments have been raising grievances with one another. The U.S. has flagged a number of trade irritants it wants addressed, while Ottawa has pushed back with its own list pointing to American tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles, and lumber as areas where Washington is, in Ottawa’s view, already in breach of the existing agreement.
“We’re not sitting here taking notes and taking instructions from the U.S.,” the prime minister said pointedly.
He also moved to swat down a Radio-Canada report suggesting the United States was demanding an “entry fee” of concessions before formal talks could even begin. Carney was unambiguous: he had never used that language, and claimed he had never heard it from President Trump either.
Not everyone in the American administration has been so measured. Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Rick Switzer accused Carney on April 22 of making the dispute “personal,” calling it “political malpractice for the prime minister.” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, testifying before a House committee the same day, argued there was a fundamental philosophical divide between the two capitals with Canada “doubling down on globalization” while the U.S. was trying to correct for its failures.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also weighed in last week, dismissing comments from Canada’s former chief trade negotiator Steve Verheul, who had suggested that time was on Canada’s side given the domestic pressure the Trump administration faces. “That is like the worst strategy I’ve ever heard,” Lutnick said.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc, for his part, pushed back against the notion that Ottawa was dragging its feet. Speaking on April 16, he said Canada would not be a source of delays and was ready to “get to a deal very quickly.”
The press conference also veered into the rather more visceral territory of alcohol. Several Canadian provinces have banned the sale of American beer, wine, and spirits a move Washington has raised as yet another irritant in an already strained relationship.
Carney wasn’t particularly sympathetic to that complaint. “You know what’s an irritant? 50 percent tariffs on steel, 50 percent tariffs on aluminum, 25 percent tariffs on automobiles,” he said. He noted that decisions on what goes on liquor store shelves are ultimately a provincial matter, but added that Canadians simply aren’t inclined to buy American alcohol right now and that movement on the issue would have to come alongside broader progress in negotiations.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre brushed off the alcohol debate entirely when reporters put the question to him outside. “I don’t think we need to spend three or four days debating whether we should drink bourbon or not,” he said, arguing the real conversation should be about securing the 2.6 million Canadian jobs he says depend on reaching a tariff-free trade deal with the United States.
If all three CUSMA partners agree to renew the agreement at the July talks, it would remain in force until 2032. A failure to renew could trigger a cycle of annual reviews, and a full withdrawal by any party could open the door to a patchwork of bilateral deals replacing the trilateral framework entirely.
For now, Canada appears to be playing a long game projecting calm while the pressure mounts on all sides.
