Insiders say getting Donald Trump's tariffs lifted is job one for Mark Carney

Carney is apparently headed to the U.S. within a week. Trump revealed their first high-stakes meeting is in the works as the president fielded media questions at a Wednesday cabinet meeting.

“I think we’re going to have a great relationship,” said Trump. “He called me up yesterday. He said, ‘Let’s make a deal.’” 

The Prime Minister’s Office said Trump made the congratulatory call to Carney but would not confirm a trip has been scheduled, nor state what Carney’s goal will be for their first meeting.

Carney, who won a minority government Monday, has not held a post-election news conference with Canadian media.

However, just as Justin Trudeau spoke to foreign media more often than Canadian media after his 2015 win, Carney chose to give an exclusive interview to a BBC reporter, in which he laid out for a foreign audience the message he would bring to Washington.

“It will be the same message that I’ve given him directly and I’ve been saying publicly, which is that we’re two sovereign nations, there is a partnership to be had, an economic and security partnership to be had,” he said. “It’s going to be a very different one than we’ve had in the past.”

Carney said he’ll tell Trump Canada is seeking partnerships elsewhere around the world, but is willing to work with the U.S.

“So we’ll have a partnership on our terms. There’s a win-win possibility there,” he said, “but on our terms, not on their terms.”

It is far from clear what Carney means by that. Carney’s spokesperson Audrey Champoux declined the Star’s request to elaborate further.

During the campaign, Carney said he was willing to open immediate talks on revising the continental trade deal that is up for review — not renegotiation — next year.

And when pressed, he admitted he does not foresee upending the security and defence alliance with the U.S., particularly Norad, the North American air defence agreement that sees Canada and the U.S. jointly patrol and defend airspace and maritime approaches to Canada and the U.S. 

But Carney said he will diversify Canadian defence procurement, rely on other allies to help rearm Canada, and wants to engage Canadian defence forces in the “rearm Europe” project that the European Union has undertaken.

The reality is that the first Carney-Trump meeting will be focused from Canada’s perspective on a more pragmatic goal, two senior federal sources told the Star: getting the tariffs now in place eliminated.

That means all of them: The 25 per cent auto tariffs (which have been temporarily paused on auto parts), the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, and the 25 per cent “border-related” tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S. that fall outside the current free trade pact’s rules (which cover points of origin, labelling, labour or environmental standards). 

However, two senior sources, whom the Star is not identifying because they are not authorized to discuss internal matters, suggested a level of pessimism about seeing all tariffs lifted, given the Trump administration’s determination to wield the surcharges as a tool to raise revenues and lure manufacturers to base operations in the U.S.

“We’re not in a tariff-free world,” said one.

Premier Doug Ford told reporters, “The only thing that we will accept is zero tariffs. It’s simple as that.”

Ford expressed confidence that, with Carney headed to the U.S., “we’ll be able to work things out.”

The U.S. president on Wednesday called Carney a “pretty liberal guy,” “a very nice gentleman,” and contrasted him to his conservative opponent in the close Canadian election, suggesting Trump was aware of his influence on the election and its main contenders.

“They both hated Trump, and it was the one that hated Trump, I think the least, that won,” he said. 

“I actually think the conservative hated me much more than the than the so-called liberal.”

The Canadian vote produced a minority Parliament, with the Liberal party taking the most seats — 169 of 343 — but failing to win the 172 needed for an outright majority. The Conservatives won 144, the BQ 22, the NDP took seven, and the Green Party one.

Trump made a point of observing that the close result “was a very mixed signal, because it’s almost even, which makes it very complicated for the country. It’s a pretty tight race.”

Nevertheless, after Liberal victory was declared, all Canadian party leaders said they would support the Carney government’s efforts to negotiate with the United States and fend off the tariff war. The platforms of Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre agreed in many respects on how to respond to Trump.

Both proposed counter-tariffs, aid for the auto sector, loans or other financial supports for affected industries like agriculture, steel and aluminum, help for workers, “Buy Canadian” plans for government purchasing and infrastructure projects, and ongoing support to build a Canadian electric vehicle supply chain. The two rivals also drew similar “red lines” for trade talks: protections for Canada’s borders, supply-managed dairy, eggs and poultry farmers, and for French language and culture, among other things.

Still, Canadians should not expect that Carney would emerge from any meeting with a new deal with Trump, sources said.

A trade deal, they each said, is a massive legal document produced after detailed negotiations. Carney has not yet named a chief negotiator for such talks. What is more realistic, the insiders said, is they may emerge with some kind of framework for action, more collaboration on the border, security or defence, for example, or a timetable for discussions or what to put on the table immediately for discussion and what might be left for the 2026 review — like Trump’s concerns about the digital services tax, banking or even detailed talks on dairy quotas. 

It is all complicated by the fact dozens of other countries are also trying to negotiate deals with Trump, including China, and the fact that Trump has established a “baseline” global tariff of 10 per cent with other tariffs tailored to his gripes with each nation.

Flavio Volpe, head of the Canadian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association, said pressure is growing on Trump to ease up on some of his tariffs, but nobody should think steps he took this week on the auto sector (not stacking auto tariffs on top of steel and aluminum tariffs) reduces the hit for the Canadian auto sector. It still faces a 25 per cent duty on the non-U.S. content in Canadian-made autos shipped into the U.S., and a paused threat on auto parts, due to come May 3. 

“The reality is that we had zero tariffs, and the industry was incredibly competitive, and now we have tariffs that are unprecedented, both in terms of scope and size,” said Volpe.

His advice to Carney for the dealing with Trump on tariffs is to “forget about the noise and you look at the federal registry and (executive orders), what’s in writing. And on this specific one, if Trump actually continues down where he imposes those auto parts tariffs, then we have to respond with our own and if … Trump’s going to shut down the industry, we shouldn’t give them free passage either.

“But I think the advice to Carney is, Donald Trump will do more damage to this industry than anything that we can do. You don’t have to react with emotion. Donald Trump is emotional. His commerce secretary (Howard Lutnick) is emotional,” said Volpe. “We need to be disciplined.”