Carney calls for new partnership with US as Trump mulls whether to renew
free trade agreement
[May 29, 2026] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for a new
partnership with the United States on Thursday, just weeks before
President Donald Trump decides on whether to renew the free trade
agreement between the countries.
Carney said in a speech at the Economic Club of New York that there
should be a “true partnership” that re-imagines cooperation in specific
sectors challenged by global competition.
He made the remarks ahead of the mandatory review of United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, in July.
Carney said Canada is diversifying away from the U.S. and signing trade
deals with dozens of countries around the world.
“Our core objective across these partnerships is to increase our
strategic autonomy. Because we live in a world where integration has
been weaponised. Because a country that cannot feed, fuel or defend
itself is not truly sovereign,” Carney said.
Trump’s actions — including launching a trade war and suggesting Canada
become the 51st U.S. state — have infuriated Canadians and created the
political environment for Carney to win the job of prime minister after
promising to confront Trump.
The Canadian prime minister has emerged as a spokesman for a movement
for countries to find ways to link up and counter the U.S. under Trump.
Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the
next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment.
“Canada Strong will help make America great again. The examples are
legion where we should work together and compete with the world
together. And to those ends, we have made specific, practical proposals
to the US Administration,” Carney said.
Canada has been protected by the heaviest impact of Trump’s tariffs by
the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement but that trade agreement is up for a
review and certain key sectors like aluminum and steel have been hit
hard by tariffs.
The prime minister noted Canadian aluminum exports to the U.S. are the
energy equivalent of 10 Hoover dams and that it doesn’t make sense to
replace Canada.
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech and takes part
in an armchair discussion at The Economic Club of New York, in New
York, on Thursday, May 28, 2026. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
via AP)
 “With America’s growing energy
needs, does it make sense to build the Gigawatts needed to replace
Canada?” Carney said.
He also noted that on automobiles, Canada is America’s biggest
customer, and “an integrated North American market for production is
the best and most durable way to confront intense global
competition.”
Carney also said on critical minerals, with its vast reserves of
potash, nickel, copper and uranium, Canada can be the most reliable
supplier that America needs to put affordable food on the table, to
strengthen its national defence and meet exploding demand to power
AI.
“At a time of a global energy crisis, Canada provides the United
States with the reliable power and critical minerals that help fuel
American growth: 99% of U.S. natural gas imports, 85% of electricity
imports and 60% of crude oil imports,” Carney said.
Carney said Canada is America’s largest customer, buying more goods
than China, Japan and the Germany combined.
“When Canada and the United States have had our differences over the
years, we have always — eventually — worked through them, because
our shared values and common interests run deep. They run through
our economies,” he said.
Carney also met with representatives of BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase,
Blackstone, Morgan Stanley and Apollo while in New York.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister for U.S. trade, is heading to
Washington next week for talks. LeBlanc has previously warned that
the free trade agreement could be subject to annual review and that
uncertainty could be the objective of the Trump administration.
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