Carney and Ford hold lunch meeting amid rising U.S.-Canada trade tensions

Prime Minister Mark Carney says the latest tariff threat from U.S. President Donald Trump is directly tied to upcoming renewal talks of their free-trade pact, the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

Over the weekend, Trump reignited an old barb, calling carney “governor” following the prime minister’s dealings with China.  The recent agreements also irked Premier Doug Ford, however, today, the premier showed he stands by the prime minister.

Ford reaffirms that he and Carney are still on the same page when it comes to reviving Canada’s economy. Today, both leaders met for a lunch meeting in Toronto, more than a week after Ford expressed his disapproval over Carney’s tariff reprieve on China.

Ahead of holding a First Ministers Meeting this week, both the prime minister and the premier discussed Ontario files like energy, critical minerals and the auto industry.

A point of contention after Carney nearly removed the entire levies on electric vehicles made in China, in exchange for concessions on Canadian canola and seafood.  After appearing to be okay with the agreement, U.S. President Donald Trump made another U-turn and threatened to impose 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods if Ottawa reaches a trade deal with China.

In a social media post over the weekend, Trump referred to Carney as “governor,” an old barb used on former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

“I think in this world, you get called a lot of things, a lot of the time,” Carney said. “I’m not going to comment on every tweet, or truth, or anything from whoever. So, I can handle it. A robust review of CUSMA is the expectation. The president is a strong negotiator and I think some of these comments and positioning should be viewed in the broader context of that.”

U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, also slammed Carney’s speech in Davos and warned Ottawa’s recent deal with China could upend their CUSMA negotiations.

“We are great allies with Canada. We are great allies. It doesn’t mean you don’t have an argument,” Lutnick said this weekend the World Economic Forum. “It doesn’t mean you don’t disagree, but it doesn’t change the fundamentals of the United States knows who our allies are, and if we are going to have a kerfuffle so be it.”

Carney also explained CUSMA carries a provision that forbids each of the partnering nations from entering into free-trade agreements with non-market economies such as China.

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