OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said U.S. President Donald Trump respected Canada's sovereignty in their first phone call on Friday where the two leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a new economic and security relationship immediately after the Canadian election.
"It was a very cordial, substantive call," Carney said at a campaign stop in Montreal. "This was a call between two leaders of their respective governments, between two sovereign nations."
Trump has spent months repeatedly threatening Canada should become a U.S. state and referring to former prime minister Justin Trudeau as a "governor."
In his statement on social media Friday, Trump referred to Carney as prime minister. Trump said they agreed on many things, and he would be meeting with Carney immediately after the election to "work on elements of politics, business, and all other factors."
Carney said he will work hard during the election to earn the right to represent Canada in those discussions following the April 28 vote.
Carney did tell Trump that Canada would implement new retaliatory tariffs if the president goes ahead with "reciprocal" tariffs on April 2, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office said.
When asked about Canada's plan for retaliatory duties later Friday, Trump said he "absolutely" would respond with large-scale tariffs but his answer mainly focused on the "very good" call with Carney.
"I think things are going to work out very well between Canada and the United States," Trump said in the Oval Office.
Vice-President JD Vance, when asked about retaliatory tariffs, said Canada "doesn't have the cards" to win a trade war and claimed Canadian leadership had forced American farmers and manufacturers to play by "an unfair set of rules."
Vance made the comments during a controversial trip to Greenland — the semi-autonomous Danish territory has also faced annexation threats from Trump.
The Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, also called CUSMA, was negotiated during the first Trump administration to replace the North American Fair Trade Agreement. Trump praised CUSMA at the time as the "best agreement we've ever made" — but experts say his expanding tariff assault on Canada and Mexico is undermining the trade pact.
Carney later Friday held a virtual meeting with premiers to talk about how to build the Canadian economy and a tariff response. The Liberal leader was pulled away from campaigning this week after Trump's Wednesday executive order that will slap automobile imports to the U.S. with a 25 per cent tariff next week.
It's unclear how Canada will ultimately be impacted by those levies. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick indicated auto tariffs won't include Canadian-made vehicles with 50 per cent or more American parts.
Carney said Trump did not indicate that he would pull back on any tariffs impacting Canada during the call.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said, like all Canadians, he hoped the talk between Carney and Trump was successful and would lead to a change in tone.
"We want to put an end to this crazy tariff chaos," Poilievre said at a campaign stop in Nanaimo, B.C. "We have the best trading relationship in the history of the world. Why not continue and grow that trading relationship as two separate, sovereign nations?"
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he was glad Trump called it productive, but he wants clarity on issues affecting Quebec in trade disputes, including supply management, softwood lumber, culture and aluminum.
B.C. Premier David Eby remained skeptical about the impact of Friday's call, saying Trump was not "true to his word in terms of the trade agreement he signed with Canada."
Mayors from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. gathered in Washington Friday for a summit amid fears that Trump's efforts to realign global trade will devastate local economies. The uncertainty caused by Trump's on again, off again tariffs is already leading to layoffs and pauses on investment, they said.
"We have many decades of trading history and friendship. So that remains strong," said Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow. "It’s the back and forth, the chaos, the trade war that is hurting Americans, Canadians, Mexicans — we are basically saying, 'Please stop it' and we are saying it in one voice."
Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann said people in his South Carolina city are extremely concerned. They are home to automotive and aeronautics industries, and the packaging company Sonoco Products has already been hit by Trump's 25 per cent tariffs on aluminum and steel, implemented earlier this month, Rickenmann said.
"What we really need is the administration to sit down with the two countries and say, 'Alright it's time for fair trade, all the way across, balanced'," Rickenmann said.
"We are neighbours, we are friends, we are colleagues. We cannot live without each other."
— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 28, 2025.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
