Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney open to new US talks despite fresh tariffs

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday he remains open to resuming trade discussions with the United States after Washington imposed an additional 10 percent tariff on Canadian exports.

“We stand ready to sit down with the United States, myself with the president, my colleagues with their colleagues, when the US is ready to sit down,” Carney told reporters at a regional summit in Malaysia. His comments came shortly after President Donald Trump announced he was terminating all trade talks with Canada, accusing Ottawa of running a “fake” ad campaign.

Carney noted that he had not spoken directly with Trump during the Kuala Lumpur summit but confirmed plans to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea on Wednesday.

The meeting with Xi, he said, will focus on “our commercial relationship, as well as the evolution of the global system.”

Trump is also scheduled to attend the APEC summit but has publicly stated he does not plan to meet with Carney.

The new tariffs have deepened economic strain in Canada, particularly in the steel, aluminum, and automobile sectors, industries already hit hard by previous US measures.

Carney said earlier trade discussions had yielded “considerable progress” in several key areas, including energy cooperation and metals trade, before being abruptly suspended.

Tensions escalated last week after an advertisement from Ontario’s provincial government featured an edited clip of former US President Ronald Reagan’s 1987 speech warning against high tariffs. The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation criticized the ad, saying it used “selective audio and video” and that legal options were being reviewed.

Ontario officials said Monday they would withdraw the ad “to create space for renewed negotiations” with Washington.