Speaking to his nation Wednesday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said relying on the United States now endangers Canada’s economy:
The world is more dangerous and divided. And the U.S. has fundamentally changed its approach to trade, raising its tariffs to levels last seen during the Great Depression.
The scale and speed of these developments are not a smooth transition, they’re a rupture.
They mean our economic strategy needs to change dramatically. And that your future will not be the same as my past.
My time as a student was marked by events of similar magnitude but in a very different direction. When I was your age, the Berlin Wall fell, leading to a long period of liberalisation of the movement of goods, capital and people.
It was a time of optimism, of hope, and of promise.
Those dynamics particularly benefited Canada.
Our enviable geography gave us access to the largest and most dynamic economy in the world, while keeping us far from most wars and terrorist attacks of the time.
Over decades, our economy grew steadily more integrated with the United States through the Free Trade Agreement of the 1980s, the NAFTA Accord of the 1990s and eventually the USMCA agreement signed in 2018.
Canada’s trade increased by 400% over that period, and our economy doubled in size.
This decades-long process of an ever-closer economic relationship between the Canadian and U.S. economies is now over. Many of our former strengths — based on close ties to America — have become our vulnerabilities.
As a result, the jobs of workers in our industries most affected by U.S. tariffs — autos, steel, lumber — are under threat. Our businesses are holding back investments, restrained by the pall of uncertainty that is hanging over all of us.
Our relationship with the United States will never be the same as it was, even though, in the new protectionist world, we have the best trade deal of any country, and we are working to make it even better still.
…As Canadians, we have re-learned some key lessons over the past year.
We have to take care of ourselves because we can’t rely on one foreign partner [Prime Minister Mark Carney, address to the nation, as prepared for delivery, 2025.10.22 ].
PM Carney says Canada steady its global position by offering the world resources and values that the unreliable United States no longer can:
Canada has what the world wants.
We are bordered by three oceans, and we are the only country with trade agreements with every G7 economy — giving our businesses unparalleled access to global markets.
We are an energy superpower. We start with the third-largest reserves of oil and the fourth-largest reserves of natural gas in the world. We have an 85% clean electricity grid, with vast potential to power the clean economy of the future.
We possess one of the world’s largest resources of critical minerals and rare earths.
Canada is a leader in artificial intelligence, life sciences, and quantum computing. Our universities are among the best in the world, our scientists among the most cited, and they attract and train top talent.
Our government has the fiscal capacity to act decisively. We must draw on these strengths.
Our second advantage is that Canada has the values to which the world aspires.
Canada has always been, and will always be, committed to fundamental human rights, human dignity, and individual freedom.
We are a pluralistic society that works — our cities are the most diverse in the world, places where people bring the best of their cultures.
Our public square is loud, diverse and free.
Canadians value collaboration and partnership.
And we are committed to building a sustainable future.
These deep values are also economic strengths.
They give investors the confidence to build here.
They give innovators the stability to take risks here.
They give the world reasons to trust Canadians as reliable partners [Carney, 2025.10.22].
Instead of erecting barriers to trade, Canada is opening its economy to global partners:
Our partners are already taking note of this new Canadian ambition.
Last month, we signed an historic free trade agreement with Indonesia — the world’s fourth largest country by population.
We’ve signed foundational agreements with the UAE in AI, with the EU in defence and trade, and with Germany on critical minerals.
And we are re-engaging with the global giants India and China while we deepen our partnerships with traditional allies.
To build on this momentum, I am announcing an ambitious goal for Canada to double our non-U.S. exports in the next decade.
This will generate $300 billion more in trade – and new orders for Canadian resources, technologies, and expertise [Carney, 2025.10.22].
Meanwhile, King Don has proven Carney’s point and, in a social-media hissy fit, terminated all trade negotiations with Canada.
Hey, rest of Washington: when our closest ally says we are no longer reliable, maybe we ought to rethink our global trade strategy… if we can even call it a strategy. Maybe we need to remove the Wrecking-Ball-in-Chief, by swift impeachment or invocation of the 25th Amendment, and immediately start rebuilding the international relationships that made America, Canada, and the world more prosperous and free.
Our conman king is wrecking the economy for everyone. Largest tax (tariffs) increase on Americans and only Americans.
What do his supporters not understand? The ranchers who supported him now understand. He makes an agreement with Argentina to undermine them. He lost the Soybean farmers market. When any of them complain he insults their intelligence. Of course he’ll throw them a bone which makes them welfare farmers which they don’t want to be and weren’t under Biden.
He lies virtually every time he opens his mouth. He’s gone bankrupt many times Now its America. Hes freed criminals of all stripes,if they show him support. I would list several but everyone know who.
He obeys no law. If I wanted to say tear down a section of MY house and build a larger studio can I do it without checking with the county? Of course not and he’s doing it with the peoples house.
It just goes on and on everyday.