Friday August 1, 2025 | OTTAWA, ON [Reporting from VICTORIA, BC] Posted at 9:17 am PT
Political news & analysis by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
On this Friday August 1, 2025 Prime Minister Mark Carney is sticking to his stance that Canada should hold out on making a deal with the United States until there is a good deal to be had.
This comes one day after US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that all non-CUSMA-compliant goods imported to the US from Canada be subject to a 35% tariff (up from 25%).
Earlier this week, Carney held a press conference to announce Canada’s position on intending to recognize Palestine as a sovereign state, something that probably wouldn’t be so front-and-center under other political conditions. Canada’s prime minister could have well expected that Trump’s response would be to reject that stance from one of its usual defence allies. This has bought Canada more time.
Meanwhile, Carney’s key message today is that Canada will continue to ‘build CAnada strong’ which includes working on diversifying trade relations with other countries and breaking down domestic trade barriers between provinces and territories. During the election campaign in April, Carney talked about having one economy, not 13.
Poilievre pledges Conservative support:
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre posted online yesterday that a deal for Canada with the US “means zero tariffs on our steel, aluminum, softwood, autos, energy, agriculture and everything else. That is the deal Canada had before and the Prime Minister should accept nothing short of that.”
Poilievre says of his Opposition party, as posted in social media: “Conservatives continue to stand ready to work with all parties to end these unjustified U.S. tariffs. We must also take back control of our economic future by breaking our dependence on the U.S.”
The Conservative hold the balance of power in the 45th Parliament of Canada.
Ontario’s stance:
“Canada shouldn’t settle for anything less than the right deal,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford (who has been chair of Canada’s Premiers over the past 12 months). “Now is not the time to roll over We need to stand our ground.”
Ford has been encouraging Carney all the way along to ‘right back’ against the US aggression toward Canada’s economy.
Historically speaking, Ontario has been the economic engine of Canada since confederation.
Not rolling over:
Comments yesterday from Jim Standford, Economist & Director, Centre for Future Work underscore that Canada is playing it cool.
“Silly for countries to voluntarily accept his tariffs (thus ceding their rights to contest them under CUMSA, WTO, etc.) when their legality is still in question in the US. One more reason a bad deal is worse than no deal.”
The Prime Minister’s full statement:
Here is the prime minister’s full statement, release to media at 7:39 am ET (4:39 am PT) today:
Statement by Prime Minister Carney on Canada-U.S. trade
August 1, 2025
“President Trump has announced that the United States will increase its tariffs to 35% on those Canadian exports that are not covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA. While the Canadian government is disappointed by this action, we remain committed to CUSMA, which is the world’s second-largest free trade agreement by trading volume.
The U.S. application of CUSMA means that the U.S. average tariff rate on Canadian goods remains one of its lowest for all of its trading partners. Other sectors of our economy – including lumber, steel, aluminum, and automobiles – are, however, heavily impacted by U.S. duties and tariffs. For such sectors, the Canadian government will act to protect Canadian jobs, invest in our industrial competitiveness, buy Canadian, and diversify our export markets.
The United States has justified its most recent trade action on the basis of the cross-border flow of fentanyl, despite the fact that Canada accounts for only 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes. Canada’s government is making historic investments in border security to arrest drug traffickers, take down transnational gangs, and end migrant smuggling. These include thousands of new law enforcement and border security officers, aerial surveillance, intelligence and security operations, and the strongest border legislation in our history. We will continue working with the United States to stop the scourge of fentanyl and save lives in both our countries.
While we will continue to negotiate with the United States on our trading relationship, the Canadian government is laser focused on what we can control: building Canada strong. The federal government, provinces, and territories are working together to cut down trade barriers to build one Canadian economy. We are developing a series of major nation-building projects with provincial, territorial, and Indigenous partners. Together, these initiatives have the potential to catalyse over half a trillion dollars of new investments in Canada.
Canadians will be our own best customer, creating more well-paying careers at home, as we strengthen and diversify our trading partnerships throughout the world. We can give ourselves more than any foreign government can ever take away by building with Canadian workers and by using Canadian resources to benefit all Canadians.”
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