President Donald Trump on Tuesday, at the White House, dismissed the likelihood of reversing the tariffs imposed on Canada shortly after his return to office.
During a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office, Trump emphasised that the United States is transitioning from reliance on other countries to producing goods domestically.
When asked whether there was anything Carney could say that might persuade him to lift the tariffs, Trump responded: “No,”; adding, “That’s the way it is. We want to make our own cars; we don’t really want cars from Canada. We don’t want steel from Canada because we’re making our own steel.”;
The president cited “massive steel plants”; being built across various American states.
“We really don’t want Canadian steel, we don’t [want] Canadian aluminium, or various other things, because we want to be able to do it ourselves,”; he stated.
Responding to the same question, Carney clarified that the purpose of his visit, along with his delegation, was not solely focused on tariffs.
“This is a bigger discussion; there are much bigger forces involved. This will take some time and some discussions, and that’s why we are here,”; he said.
Carney highlighted the scale of Canada’s trade with the United States, stating, “We are the largest client of the United States, in the totality of all the goods.”;
“50% of the cars that come from Canada is American, that’s not like anywhere else in the world,”; the Prime Minister stressed.
