Carney vows Canada will ‘stand up to bully’ as Trump imposes trade tariffs

Mark Carney, the favourite to replace Justin Trudeau as the Canadian prime minister, has vowed that his country is “going to stand up to a bully” after Donald Trump imposed 25% tariffs on goods coming in from Canada.

There are now 25% tariffs on goods coming into the US from Canada and Mexico, while China is being hit with tariffs of 10% on imported goods, leading some economists to fear the outbreak of a full-on, tit-for-tat trade war.

Trump has also threatened to follow up with a further wave of tariffs against the European Union.

The former governor of the Bank of England told BBC’s Newsnight there would be repercussions after the introduction of tariffs.

“President Trump probably thinks Canada will cave in,” he said. “But we are going to stand up to a bully, we’re not going to back down. We’re united and we will retaliate.”

Justin Trudeau on Friday said Canadians could be “facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks” after the US president insisted he would impose the hefty new tariffs on goods coming across the northern border. The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has also threatened retaliation, but said she would “wait with a cool head” for Trump’s tariff decision and was prepared to continue a border dialogue with him.

China has been more circumspect about its retaliation plans, but has vowed to respond to defend its trade interests.

China “firmly opposes” Trump’s new duties, a spokesperson for Beijing’s embassy in Washington said, adding: “There is no winner in a trade war or tariff war, which serves the interests of neither side nor the world.”

Meanwhile, a senior adviser to the president has said Trump is “eager to engage in a trade agreement with the UK”, despite announcing his latest raft of tariffs.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Bryan Lanza, who worked on Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said the UK may not face the same fate. “Knowing what I know, or what I’ve heard, President Trump is eager to engage in a trade agreement with the UK.

“And that’s a good thing. That’s what President Trump wants. He wants the revisiting of these horrible trade agreements so that Americans can work in a better environment to succeed.”

According to the latest data from the British Department for Business and Trade, US trade with the UK has generally been more balanced than the large deficits between Canada and Mexico, see-sawing between surplus and deficit in recent years.

Lanza also dismissed concerns from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Jamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, the US’s largest bank, who fear Trump’s tariffs could lead to a global recession and inflation in the US.

Lanza said: “If you want to believe the IMF – they made similar statements in his first term that proved to be … wrong and Jamie Dimon said we were going to fall into a recession with Trump’s policies in his first term.”