Barry Ellsworth
27 March 2025•Update: 27 March 2025
TRENTON, Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended his election campaign Thursday to meet his Canada-US council and formulate a response to an announced 25% tariffs on foreign autos entering the US.
Donald Trump said Wednesday that all vehicles not made in the US would be hit with a 25% tariff. He followed that on Thursday with a warning that if Canada and the EU retaliated he would strike back with another round of higher tariffs.
“If the European Union works with Canada in order to do economic harm to the USA, large-scale Tariffs, far larger than currently planned, will be placed on them both in order to protect the best friend that each of those two countries has ever had!” Trump wrote on social media.
Carney is in the midst of a federal election campaign but he cancelled an appearance in Quebec and returned to Ottawa to meet with his Council on Canada-U.S. Relations but did not speak to reporters as he entered the meeting.
However, Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne did slam the tariffs.
“It’s going to have the impact of having higher prices for U.S. consumers, and at the same time, it’s going to, you know, lower competitiveness in the United States,” Champagne told the Toronto Star. “So what we have to do is to fight for Canada.”
The auto tariff goes into effect on vehicles April 2 and auto parts later in May. However, how much the tariff will be is still veiled as Trump said they could start at a base rate of 2.5%.
The auto manufacturing is so integrated with both countries that Wednesday’s announcement sent the industry reeling on both sides of the border.
