Mark Carney says anti-dumping measures will only change when trade deal is reached with U.S.

“When we land on the overall agreement (…) revisions to CUSMA, we will take stock on the steel quotas and other measures that we have taken, but within the context of that agreement, which is why they were extended.”

And Carney denied other moves his government has made this week are concessions or ways to get the lurching trade talks back on track.

Carney said his lead advisers, Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and trade negotiator Janice Charette, “made some progress” in Washington this week when they met U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade ambassador Jamieson Greer, “but lots more to do.”

Still, it’s clear the Carney government is trying to get the U.S. to more actively engage with Ottawa’s negotiators and has taken steps to stay aligned with Trump.

On Wednesday it extended for another year anti-dumping measures in the form of tariff-rate quotas that limit foreign steel and aluminum imports, first imposed last year when the U.S. was calling on trading partners to move aggressively to bar cheaper overseas products. It issued a directive to the federal broadcast regulator that may soon kill a fee charged to online streaming giants that had angered companies like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. And it said it would quickly toughen Canadian laws against forced labour products in the supply chain after Washington announced new tariffs, claiming trading partners like Canada aren’t doing enough.

The Bloc Québécois blasted the Liberals Thursday for “capitulating” to the U.S., saying the plan to give $600 million to Canadian media producers puts the burden on Canadian taxpayers, whether they have a streaming subscription or not, and is a sop to the U.S. platforms. MP Christine Normandin said other countries that require the streaming platforms to pay fees have not seen the consumer cost go up, asking when will the federal government have the “courage” to stand up to the web giants.

Carney was asked specifically if the directive to the CRTC and the extension of anti-dumping measures were intended to get U.S. trade talks going, but denied that is the case.

Instead, as he did a day earlier, the prime minister framed all his actions as steps to protect the domestic economy, boost affordability for Canadian consumers, and bolster Canadian sovereignty, not as concessions to the U.S.

He compared the AI strategy to the defence industrial strategy, saying it will support building sovereign capabilities through Canadian firms, first, and when it can’t, it will partner “with like-minded allies to attract investment and to integrate supply chains.” And after those options are exhausted “will we buy from abroad.”

He announced Canada will build a “public AI supercomputer, giving researchers and businesses access to secure high-performance compute power for their greatest innovations,” and painted the effort to expand national computing power and control over Canadian data as a way to reduce reliance on foreign providers, to enhance digital sovereignty, and not as anything that would antagonize the U.S.

“This is not an adversarial conversation,” Carney said.

Yet Canada’s emphasis on data sovereignty sparked criticism from some tech experts, who argue the AI strategy is undermined by the federal government’s continued use of major American software giants.

One example that has drawn attention is Palantir, a U.S.-based firm specializing in data analytics that is used by militaries around the world. The company is controversial in part because it is used by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that has rounded up allegedly illegal immigrants under the Trump administration. Palantir’s top executive has also argued that American big tech has a “moral obligation” to help defend the U.S., and that Western societies face the perils of “hollow pluralism.”

The Department of Defence kept secret the true value of the contract with Palantir for the use of its software by Canadian special operations forces, with payments since 2020 amounting to at least $50 million, the Star reported this week.

On Thursday, defence department spokesperson Nick Drescher Brown said the Canadian military intends to spend another $7.2 million over the coming year on Palantir’s services, which collects and integrates publicly-available and unclassified information for the armed forces.

Carney acknowledged Thursday that Canada still needs large U.S. cloud computing and data storage providers — known as hyperscalers — but has its own advantages in AI, including a large language model based here, which he said only three other countries have.

Yet he said at the same time Canada is building alliances with other democratic countries to form a credible alternative to big U.S. tech companies.

Pointing to 12 AI partnership agreements signed in the last year, Carney said, “There is very strong interest in like-minded countries sharing infrastructure” and “a very strong interest in co-ordinating, and this will be part of what is discussed at the G7 in two weeks’ time.”

Trump confirmed Wednesday night on Truth Social that he will travel to that G7 summit in Évian-les-bains, France.

Trump’s ongoing global tariff war, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the U.S.-led war against Iran that has created massive drag on global energy supply chains are expected to dominate leaders’ talks.

It will be Carney’s first face-to-face encounter with Trump since they met in December with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for the FIFA World Cup soccer draw for the tournament hosted by all three North American countries. 

The U.S. and Mexico have since embarked on detailed talks on bilateral trade relations ahead of the July 1 deadline for the three CUSMA nations to indicate if they will renew the agreement for another 16 years — which Canada and Mexico formally stated this week is their goal. 

But detailed Canadian negotiations are not yet underway. 

LeBlanc insisted Tuesday the talks that were suspended last fall by Trump in anger at Ontario’s antitariff ad campaign, are now “unfrozen.” He presented new proposals to Trump’s chief U.S. negotiator in private at the Tuesday meeting with Greer, and declined to divulge details.

Canada still retains counter tariffs on steel, aluminum and automobiles “as intensive negotiations with the U.S. continue,” according to the finance department.

Greer two weeks ago remarked that most countries have said “grudgingly” understood what the U.S. tariffs seek to do, but only Canada and China have retaliated, saying it’s “hard to see necessarily where that ends.” 

With files from Alex Ballingall