Canada is not just sitting back "taking notes" or instructions from the Americans on trade talks after White House officials complained publicly about irritants in the Canada-U.S. relationship, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday.
The prime minister said he's focused on eliminating U.S. tariffs that are hurting key sectors such as steel and aluminum.
"You know what's an irritant? Fifty per cent tariff on steel, 50 per cent on aluminum, 25 per cent on automobiles, all the tariffs on forest products," Carney said during an exchange with reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.
"Those are more than irritants. Those are violations of our trade deal."
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Carney also said he had never heard of an "entry fee" Canada would have to pay to start talks with the White House on renewing the continental free trade pact.
“I don’t know where the talk of an ‘entry fee’ is from," he said. "It's certainly not coming from me. It’s not language I’ve ever used, and it's not language I've never heard from the president of the United States."
A Radio-Canada report on Wednesday said the Americans are demanding concessions from Canada as a precondition for negotiations on the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade, better known as CUSMA.
United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told a congressional committee Wednesday the White House is pressing for "changes" to Canadian trade practices, and warned of possible trade "enforcement action" against Canada if American alcohol does not return to liquor store shelves here.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford promptly dug in his heels on Wednesday, saying American alcohol will "only go back on shelves when the U.S. removes its tariffs."
Carney noted Thursday that the clients who purchase American alcohol in Canada are provincial liquor boards and any decision to restore those U.S. products will be made by provincial governments. He also said the alcohol issue is not insurmountable.
"What we want to do is make progress as a whole. These issues, such as decisions on which alcohol to put on the shelves, we can make progress very quickly on that, with progress in other areas," the prime minister said.
Carney also suggested Canada may be prepared to wait out the Americans as Canada works to shore up its domestic economy and diversify its trading partners.
“We’re ready to go into detailed negotiations. We’re also ready to wait, if that’s what has to happen,” Carney told reporters at a news conference in Ottawa Thursday.
Canada’s former top trade negotiator Steve Verheul said earlier this month that Canada is in a “good position” heading into talks to renew CUSMA and that “time is on our side” because pressures on the U.S. will only “increase over time.”
“It’s really a question of Canada being prepared to wait this out a bit,” Verheul said on April 8.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently dismissed that idea as "the worst strategy I’ve ever heard."
Mark Wiseman, Carney’s new ambassador to the United States, is set to appear before a House of Commons committee later in the day.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 23, 2026.
