Liberal leader Mark Carney on Friday paused his campaign to hold a Canada–US relations cabinet committee meeting in Ottawa.
The meeting was in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement on Wednesday that he is pausing reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, but keeping a 10% universal tariff as well as a 25% tariff on steel, aluminum, and automobile imports.
Auto imports covered under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) will be exempt.
Carney told reporters on Parliament Hill after the meeting that the committee had “a good, long discussion on several aspects.”
“The first is the general situation — in the last week, there have been a lot of developments in terms of US tariff policy, reactions from others, including China, a really marked tightening in financial conditions, the initial signs of slowing in the global economy, impacts that we're starting to see in the Canadian economy, particularly in the Canadian labour market,” said Carney.
“We reviewed our response to those tariffs, our strategy to fight, to protect, and to build.”
“We left instructions for officials to ensure that the next government — whichever government Canadians choose — will be in the best possible position for negotiations with the United States, which the president and I have agreed will begin from the start of May.”