Carney calls Trump’s latest trade measures ‘relatively modest,’ signals
restraint
[September 11, 2026] By
ROB GILLIES
TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney signaled Thursday
that Canada may hold off on further retaliation against U.S. President
Donald Trump’s latest trade measures, calling them “relatively modest”
compared to earlier U.S. actions.
The comments came two days after Washington escalated the ongoing trade
dispute by banning some Canadian dairy products and motorcycles and most
alcoholic beverages after the Canadian retaliatory tariffs took effect.
Trump also moved to shut Canadian products out of large, long-term U.S.
government contracts.
Carney said his government was still studying the measures and
acknowledged they could have significant consequences for individual
companies and industries. But he noted that some of the new U.S. tariffs
replaced others that Washington had removed.
“We also recognize that, in the context of other things that the U.S.
administration has done ... that these are relatively modest measures,”
Carney said at a cabinet retreat in Banff, Alberta.
Derek Holt, an economist at the Canadian bank Scotiabank, said this week
the latest U.S. measures looked more like an attempt by the Trump
administration to “save face” than a major escalation, with the economic
impact on Canada relatively limited.
Carney also said he remains in regular contact with Trump and had spoken
with him “a couple of times” in recent days about Ukraine, Iran and
other global developments, even as the trade dispute between their
countries deepens.
“We continue to have to work with the United States. We can
compartmentalize across this,” Carney said. He said those conversations
dealt with geopolitical, defense and security issues and did not
indicate that trade negotiations had resumed.
Carney said his priority was increasingly to strengthen Canada’s economy
rather than simply respond to each new move from Trump.
“The biggest impact we can have here is to focus on what we can control:
building at home, diversifying abroad and delivering for Canadians,” he
said.
Ford urges voters to punish Trump’s Republicans
Ontario Premier Doug Ford struck a considerably more confrontational
tone Thursday, saying he hopes Republicans lose control of both the
House and Senate in November’s midterm elections and that voters hold
Trump accountable for the trade war.
“Hopefully he’s going to lose the Senate. He’s going to lose Congress. I
hope so, and hold him accountable,” Ford said. “But we’ll see how that
goes. We aren’t going to interfere in the U.S. election.”
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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks to the media at a cabinet
retreat in Banff, Alberta, Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026. (Jeff
McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)
 Ford has emerged as one of Trump’s
most outspoken Canadian critics, accusing him of trying to strip
industry out of Ontario and move it south of the border as the two
trade personal insults and threats.
“He’s not reliable at all,” Ford said. “He could make a deal today
and then change his mind. And we’ve seen that over and over again.”
Still, Ford said he believes Trump wants an agreement before the
midterms and that Canada should return to negotiations as soon as
possible.
“I truly believe President Trump wants a deal before the midterms,”
Ford said. “I could be wrong, but I think it’s best that we sit down
and get a deal.”
Door remains open to trade talks
Carney also left the door open to renewed negotiations, saying
Canada remains ready to return to the table if the talks are
conducted professionally and respect Canadian sovereignty.
“We are always ready to sit down” and negotiate, Carney said, adding
that he believes “there is a mutually beneficial deal possible that
respects our sovereignty and is in the interests of both countries.”
Carney said retaliation remained an option when it served Canadian
interests, citing steel as an area where countertariffs had been
necessary to protect Canadian companies and workers. But he stopped
well short of promising another round of retaliatory measures in
response to Trump’s latest action.
Trump abruptly ended trade talks with Canada last year after Ford’s
Ontario government aired an anti-tariff television ad in the United
States using former President Ronald Reagan’s criticism of tariffs.
Ford said Thursday that Trump had nevertheless strengthened Canada
by forcing it to reduce its dependence on the United States.
“The only two good things Donald Trump has ever done for Canada,”
Ford said, were that “he woke us up” and “he united the country like
I’ve never seen before.”
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