Just hours after Ottawa’s counter tariffs kicked in, Prime Minister Mark Carney warned Canadians of tough times ahead, during a video address to the nation.
Carney told Canadians that there’s always a cost to action, but it doesn’t come close to the cost of standing still.
“This is about who we are as Canadians. It’s about our livelihoods and the country we leave to our kids,” he said. “It’s about making Canada strong. And it’s about a compassion that makes us who we really are.”
Carney’s video address was released just hours after Canada’s counter tariffs against the US went into effect, about $20 billion dollars worth on some 700 American products. He repeated what he had previously said, that the U.S. wanted too much and offered too little in the trade talks, and Canada had little choice but to walk away from the talks and respond with countermeasures.
“The most fundamental issue is that the cumulative U.S. demands revealed that they wanted us to become even more reliant on them, not less. In too many areas they wanted dependency, not a true economic partnership.”
Carney also said the goal of his government’s policies is for Canada to come out stronger and more resilient so that “no country can ever hold us hostage.”
