Watching for Poilievre and Carney to speak about tariffs
U.S. officials initially made conflicting statements about whether a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all goods would apply to Canada. The White House has confirmed that it won’t. Paul Beaudry, former deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, says it’s good news for Canada for now —but the Trump administration could still change its mind at any time.
Hey! I’m an associate producer with CBC Politics.
I’m waiting for Poilievre to speak at 10 a.m. ET in Milton, Ont., and then Carney will be speaking at 10:30 a.m. ET in Brampton, Ont.
I’ll be expecting reporters to ask Carney about Canada’s response to Trump’s tariffs. The White House was unequivocal yesterday when it warned countries to not retaliate — and alluded to rewards if countries negotiate trade deals with the United States.
That’s an awkward message for Canada, which has retaliated with about $90 billion in counter-tariffs on American goods and auto parts — so we’ll see if Carney has any thoughts on Canada’s path forward.
Meanwhile, Poilievre lambasted Carney last night at a rally and claimed that “almost every country in the world got a pause on American tariffs, but not us, America’s best friend. Our steel workers, aluminum workers, autoworkers, lumber workers hit again.”
To be clear, Trump did “pause” the higher rates applied to some countries, but he kept in place a blanket 10 per cent tariff on all countries except Canada, Mexico and China. In other words, he didn’t hit workers in Canada again — but that doesn’t minimize the damage Trump has already caused.
We’ll see if reporters ask Poilievre about his comments, so keep your eyes on this page at the top of the next hour!