A bolt of economic lightning struck the Canadian auto industry Tuesday as U.S. President Donald Trump, back in power and wasting no time, announced a surprise 25% tariff hike on Canadian auto imports, effective April 2nd. The shock move sent newly-minted Prime Minister Mark Carney scrambling—cutting short a planned trip to Quebec and rushing back to Ottawa to manage the fallout. It’s Carney’s first major foreign policy test, and it already looks like he’s failed it.
Let’s be blunt—this was entirely predictable. Before Carney was coronated Liberal leader without a real contest, many warned that if Trump returned to the White House, relations with Canada would deteriorate even further. We said there would be tariffs, we said they’d target the auto sector, and we said Canada would be caught flat-footed. That’s exactly what happened. You didn’t need to be a magician or have a crystal ball. All you needed was to pay attention.
But what’s worse is that Carney still hasn’t picked up the phone. No call with Trump. There was no backchannel, which may be why he did not even receive a congratulatory text. The relationship is stone cold. That silence is not just diplomatically negligent—it’s economically reckless. And it exposes a disturbing truth: there is no plan. No adults in the room in Washington—and clearly, none in Ottawa either.
Trump’s move is a power play. He doesn’t do subtlety. But Canada should’ve seen this coming from a mile away. Under Justin Trudeau, Canada’s foreign affairs department was already a train wreck—one blunder after another. The world stopped taking Ottawa seriously. And instead of cleaning house, Carney doubled down on the dysfunction by keeping Mélanie Joly as Minister of Foreign Affairs, a decision that tells you everything you need to know about how little he understands the gravity of diplomacy. Joly, whose tenure under Trudeau was marred by ineffective policies that made Canada look weak on the world stage, is now expected to manage relations with the most unpredictable White House in modern history. That’s not a strategy. That’s delusion.
Let’s be honest here: this didn’t have to happen. There were other potential Liberal leaders—people with political instincts and the courage to engage Trump directly. Instead, the party elite rammed through Carney’s leadership as if credentials alone could carry a nation through crisis. It was a coronation, not a competition. And now Canadians are paying the price.
“We put in place the option of major liquidity for companies, including the ability to delay tax payments and access a large facility for our largest companies—especially those that may be affected by this—so they can make longer-term decisions without undue pressure from short-term, unjustified actions.” said, Prime Minister Carney
This 25% tariff isn’t just a tax on cars. It’s a tax on every Canadian worker tied to the manufacturing sector. It’s a blow to our economy at a time when we can least afford it. And as Trump escalates, don’t expect him to stop here. He’s already shown he’s willing to play hardball. The only question is whether anyone in Ottawa knows how to respond.
Carney’s defenders will try to spin this as growing pains. But let’s be real—this isn’t a learning curve. This is a leadership void. Diplomacy is about relationships, not résumés. Trump may be abrasive, but he respects strength. What he’s seeing from Ottawa is weakness, arrogance, and incompetence dressed up as technocracy.
As for Trump, this won’t end well for the United States either. The American economy is buckling under unsustainable debt, and this latest tariff war will only fuel inflation and punish consumers. But at least Trump is playing offense. Canada, under Carney, is barely on the field.
The bottom line? Canadians are being let down—by a Liberal Party that has been in power for way too long, by a foreign affairs department still living in fantasyland, and by a Prime Minister who seems more interested in optics than outcomes. If this is how Canada handles its closest ally and largest trading partner, what happens when the next crisis hits?
We can’t afford more silence. We can’t afford more spin. What we need now is leadership. Because while Trump acts, Carney dithers—and the country bleeds jobs and credibility in the process.
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