Carney calls Trump's tariff threats bluster ahead of US-Canada free
trade talks
[January 27, 2026] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday some of
U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats should be viewed as prepositioning
ahead of negotiations to renew the free trade pact between the two large
trading partners.
Carney noted they are entering a review of the United
States–Mexico–Canada Agreement this year and said he expects a "robust
review.”
“The president is a strong negotiator, and some of these comments and
positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that,” Carney
said.
Trump threatened this past weekend to impose a 100% tariff on goods
imported from Canada if America’s northern neighbor went ahead with a
trade deal with Beijing, though Carney has said Canada has no interest
in negotiating a comprehensive trade deal with Beijing.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Carney spoke to Trump on
Monday and Bessent told Fox News that Carney “was very aggressively
walking back some of the unfortunate remarks he made at Davos.”
A spokesperson for Carney didn’t immediately respond when asked about
the Carney-Trump call.
Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade,
said he spoke with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on Sunday
and made it clear that the Canadians are negotiating a “narrow trade
arrangement” with China that mostly deals with just “a few sectors of
our economy.”
He compared that to an agreement Trump made with Chinese leader Xi
Jinping in South Korea last summer in which the U.S. cut some tariffs on
China while Beijing moved to allow rare earth exports and lift a pause
on purchasing U.S. soy.
LeBlanc also said upcoming talks were a review of the United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and not a full-scale renegotiation of
trade as happened during Trump's first term.
“It’s not six years ago We talked about that. This is a review,” LeBlanc
said. “It was built into the agreement. It’s not a renegotiation."
LeBlanc said Canada is ready to move quickly.
In 2024, Canada mirrored the United States by putting a 100% tariff on
electric vehicles from Beijing and a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum.
China had responded by imposing 100% import taxes on Canadian canola oil
and meal and 25% on pork and seafood.
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney makes a point as he answers a
question from media during an event at a grocery store in Ottawa on
Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)
 Breaking with the United States this
month during a visit to Beijing, Carney cut its 100% tariff on
Chinese electric cars in return for lower tariffs on those Canadian
products.
“Last week’s new strategic partnership with China will make
available tens of thousands affordable electric vehicles in Canada,”
Carney said Monday.
Carney has said there would be an initial annual cap of 49,000
vehicles on Chinese EV exports coming into Canada at a tariff rate
of 6.1%, growing to about 70,000 over five years.
He also has said the initial cap on Chinese EV imports was about 3%
of the 1.8 million vehicles sold in Canada annually and that, in
exchange, China is expected to begin investing in the Canadian auto
industry within three years.
Trump’s tariff threat came amid an escalating war of words with
Carney as the Republican president’s push to acquire Greenland
strained the NATO alliance.
Carney has emerged as a spokesman for a movement for countries to
find ways to link up and counter the U.S. under Trump. Speaking in
Davos before Trump, Carney said, “Middle powers must act together
because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu." The prime
minister received widespread praise and attention for his remarks,
upstaging Trump at the World Economic Forum.
Trump’s push to acquire Greenland has come after he has repeatedly
needled Canada over its sovereignty and suggested it also be
absorbed into the United States as a 51st state. He posted an
altered image on social media last week showing a map of the United
States that included Canada, Venezuela, Greenland and Cuba as part
of its territory.
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