Mark Carney faces calls to negotiate with China as Donald Trump's tariffs hit Canada

OTTAWA — The Canadian election campaign passed the halfway point with two major party leaders skirting media scrutiny while trying to project strength in the face of U.S. tariffs before the critical two-week home-stretch begins.

Mark Carney, who “paused” his Liberal campaign to resume prime ministerial duties in Ottawa, emerged from a cabinet committee meeting Friday to briefly underscore the growing impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs. He noted the escalating U.S.



-China trade war, “marked tightening in financial conditions, the initial signs of slowing in the global economy,” and worrying job impacts “unfortunately, in the Canadian economy, particularly in the Canadian labour market.” “We left instructions for officials to ensure that the next government, whichever government Canadians choose, will be in the best possible position for negotiations with the United States, which, as the president and I have agreed, will begin from the start of May,” Carney said. He then turned on his heel and left, ignoring reporter questions.

So did all those cabinet ministers summoned to Ottawa for the meeting. For premiers like Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, whose provinces are facing a two-front trade war with the U.S.

and China, Carney has a lot more prime ministerial heavy-lifting to do than that. Over two days, they called on the prime minister to do more to persuade China to drop 100 per cent counter-tariffs against Canadian canola, peas, seafood and pork exports that were levied after Canada sided with the U.S.

and slapped surcharges to stop “dumping” of cheap Chinese EVs, steel and aluminum into North American markets. Smith, who endorsed Carney’s main rival, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, from a conference stage Thursday, said she doubted the value of Canada wielding retaliatory tariffs against the U.S.

or China, saying in a trade war there are no winners. Moe followed up Friday, demanding Carney be bolder and “engage with” China to get the punishing Chinese tariffs dropped. “You need to be bold in how you’re reaching out, and to engage and allow the diplomacy to happen even while the election is on.

So that’s what I’ve asked Prime Minister Carney to do,” Moe said. “We’ve been reaching out to the Canadian ambassador to China, the Chinese ambassador to Canada. We’ve also been reaching out on a subnational level as well, but ultimately the national government needs to reach out and offer to engage, to find a resolution.

” Carney’s return to Ottawa to don the prime minister’s mantle was mocked by some Conservatives. Conservative candidate Michael Chong, running in Wellington-Halton Hills North, posted in frustration on X: “This is beyond the pale. Where is the caretaker convention? Where is the Privy Council Office? Where is our independent public service, providing fearless advice,” he wrote, saying they should tell him he is “putting your thumb on the scale of the electoral process.

” But Carleton University professor Philippe Lagassé, a constitutional expert at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, said the notion of pausing a campaign is simply confusing people, and that Carney is acting within the caretaker convention as long as he doesn’t bind a future prime minister to a particular course of action. “We like to think that he’s Liberal leader in some cases and (prime minister) in others, but the reality is that he’s always the (prime minister) and that job has to take precedence,” said Lagassé in an emailed answer to the Star’s questions. “The starting point is that he has all the authority of the prime minister because he is the prime minister.

Similarly, he has the authority do everything that a prime minister can normally do. What caretaker does is cover everything he does with a principle of restraint. So, rather than asking what caretaker allows, it’s better to ask what caretaker would discourage under the idea of restraint,” he wrote.

“So, as long as he’s acting with restraint in doing all these things, he has the authority to do whatever a (prime minister) would normally do.” Poilievre, for his part, attempted this week to sow doubt about Carney’s credibility as a crisis manager. On Friday, he warned voters the Liberal leader’s “entire election strategy is to make you forget his record and the Liberal record of rising costs and crime and focus instead on his promise that he can handle Donald Trump.

“Look at the reality. While the rest of the world is getting pauses on Trump’s tariffs, there are more tariffs on Canada today than when Mark Carney became prime minister,” he charged. With his party having lost a 20-point polling lead and lagging in national polls, Poilievre reached back to the Stephen Harper-Jim Flaherty years of Conservative government to tout his party as having led Canada through the 2008-09 global financial crisis, not then-Bank of Canada governor Carney.

But all major political parties back the idea of retaliation against Trump’s tariffs immediately. The U.S.

, however, continues to warn against retaliation. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Friday that “more than 75 countries” have reached out to to the Trump administration. “The phones have been ringing off the hook to make deals and these countries wisely heeded President Trump’s warning not to retaliate and as a result they were rewarded with a 90-day pause and substantially lower ‘reciprocal’ tariff rates during this period so potential solutions can be achieved,” she said.

“They need our markets, they need our consumer base.” Canada did not get a pause, although it too seeks a new deal. Trump’s so-called “border” tariffs of 25 per cent on non-CUSMA compliant goods except oil, gas and potash (which have a 10 per cent tariff rate), 25 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs, and 25 per cent auto tariffs, remain in place.

The Canadian government has retaliated with matching counter-tariffs on about $94.5 billion worth of American imports, which is expected to raise up to $24 million in revenue through the import duties that would be paid by Canadian importers and consumers. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request.

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