Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade negotiations with the United States late Friday, blaming “unfair” last-minute changes to Washington’s proposed terms and announcing retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.
Carney said the move comes as President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs on roughly $28 billion in Canadian goods were set to take effect at midnight.
The breakdown came just days after Trump paused the 50% tariffs for three days and announced that the U.S. and Canada, subject to final documentation, had reached a “DEAL!”
While Carney said progress had been made in recent weeks toward improving Canada’s position and reaching an agreement with the U.S., he said the two sides ultimately could not finalize a deal.
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“However, that progress has not been enough to meet our objectives for Canadians,” Carney said in a statement.
“As a result, this evening, I have decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and have directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa,” he continued. “They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute. However, last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”
The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) offered a sharply different account of the breakdown, saying Canada declined to finalize terms that had been agreed to earlier in the week.
“Tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week,” USTR Jamieson Greer said in a statement. “Despite the U.S. offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days.”
Greer said the U.S. had offered Canada significant tariff reductions on steel, aluminum, autos and lumber, along with a broader economic and national security partnership covering areas including digital trade, critical minerals, aerospace and export controls.
“This is a missed opportunity for Canada to partner with the United States, which is the fastest growing economy in the G7,” Greer said.
Carney said Canada would retaliate by matching the U.S. tariffs.
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“At midnight tonight, the U.S. intends to impose a 50% tariff on roughly $28 billion of Canadian goods. Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” he said.
“In the coming days, the government will introduce additional measures to support Canadian workers and businesses, building on the nearly $25 billion in support provided over the past 18 months,” Carney added.
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