Carney ends most counter-tariffs as Trump trade talks continue

It's clip to 'stickhandle' with U.S., Carney says, after falling the gloves betimes in merchandise war

Carney announces Canada will remove retaliatory tariffs on most U.S. Goods

Trump says it was 'nice' of Carney to remove retaliatory tariffs

Poilievre says Carney ‘has not thrown one elbow since he took office’

Poilievre says he would have only used 'sustainable' countermeasures in trade war

We're wrapping up our live coverage of today's trade developments.

Prime Minister Mark Carney announced around noon that he would be lifting most of the country's retaliatory tariffs with the U.S. This follows a phone call he had with U.S. President Donald Trump yesterday.

Trump said the call was "very good" and that he liked Carney.

Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Carney’s move made him seem weak after having made other concessions to the U.S.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who is often aligned with Poilievre, welcomed the decision, as did former Conservative leader Erin O'Toole. But Ontario Premier Doug Ford wants retaliation if a deal isn’t struck soon.

Business groups also welcomed the news with some hesitation, saying they were searching for stability amid the ongoing trade war.

If you want more details, you can scroll down to see how it all unfolded.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says Canadian tariffs on U.S. Goods primarily hurt Canadian citizens and businesses.

She said she supports Carney’s decision.

“I remain convinced that the path to a positive resolution with our U.S. Partners lies in strong, consistent diplomacy and a commitment to working in good faith toward shared priorities, rather than angry rhetoric and retaliation,” Smith said in a post on X.

Alberta’s oil exports to the U.S. Have escaped tariffs throughout the trade war, a fact that has put Smith at odds with premiers from other provinces whose economies have been hurt by steel, aluminum and auto tariffs, notably Ontario and Quebec.

“I urge the federal government to continue negotiating to resolve the remaining tariff issues and restore a free and fair trade agreement with the United States,” Smith said, while using the rest of her post to repeat her calls for Ottawa to scrap policies that she believes hamper Alberta’s energy sector.

According to estimates from the Peterson Institute, as of June, Trump's tariffs have generated some $94 billion US in revenue. The U.S. Government pulled in $29.6 billion US in July alone, according to Treasury Department figures.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who is Trump's tariffs czar, is projecting about $50 billion US in revenue for the month of August.

Trump was jubilant about the Congressional Budget Office's report earlier today that found, if the tariffs stay in place for the next 10 years, the government will generate some $3.3 trillion US in revenue and save about $0.7 trillion US in borrowing costs.

That will help chip away at the country's eye-popping national debt, which is about $37 trillion US and counting.

But the CBO, which is a non-partisan arm of Congress, said its figures are "subject to significant uncertainty" because there are "a lack of precedents" to what Trump is doing here.

Those figures also don't take into account the possibility — perhaps even the likelihood — that some U.S. Businesses will fail under the weight of these tariffs, which could lead to less revenue from corporate and income taxes from businesses and the workers they employ.

While Trump has talked a lot about using his tariffs to revive U.S. Manufacturing and punish countries for drugs and migrants and the like, he also from time to time speaks about their potential as a revenue-generating tool.

Trump frames it as if foreigners will pay, which isn't true. U.S. Importers generally pay tariffs to the U.S. Government when they bring in products from Canada or elsewhere.

This morning, I wrote about how some American small- and medium-sized businesses are being crushed by these added costs.

They're being crushed because these companies have shelled out a lot of cash to the feds already — and it's only expected to grow in the coming months as higher rates take effect.

Of course, consumers are often the ones that foot the bill in the end because many companies pass them on through higher prices.

Lana Payne, the president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, is criticizing Carney’s shift on counter-tariffs.

“Trump's attacks on auto, steel, aluminum and forestry sectors are hurting Canadian workers in real time,” Payne said in a post on X.

“Walking back counter-tariffs isn’t an olive branch. It only enables more U.S. Aggression.”

Payne, who has served on the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, an advisory group of about 20 business, trade and policy experts, says Canada must use its leverage.

“We should not give it away unless the U.S. Also drops all punitive tariffs. Backing down with concessions is not an option,” she said.

Poilievre says he would have only used 'sustainable' countermeasures in trade war

When asked if he would have removed retaliatory tariffs on CUSMA-compliant U.S. Goods, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said he would have told U.S. President Donald Trump, 'You remove your tariffs, we remove ours.'

Poilievre had plenty of criticisms for the Liberal government’s handling of the trade war, but he was mum on whether he endorsed the removal of some counter-tariffs.

The Conservative leader said he would have negotiated from a “position of strength” and “only put in counter-measures that were sustainable and legally defensible.”

He went on to claim that, as prime minister, he would have negotiated a trade deal that eliminated all tariffs from both countries.

But that might be wishful thinking. All of Trump’s trade agreements to this point have included some tariffs, leading Carney to say in July any deal would likely come with some tariffs attached.

Poilievre says Carney ‘has not thrown one elbow since he took office’

Speaking after Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the removal of some retaliatory tariffs on U.S. Goods, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said Carney has broken his biggest election campaign promise.

Now in English, Poilievre has called the removal of the tariffs "another capitulation and climb down by Mark Carney."

The Conservative leader also had an elbows reference today, saying Carney's "elbows have mysteriously gone missing."

Poilievre listed other U.S.-related policies the prime minister has backed down on, including that he would impose "dollar-for-dollar" tariffs on the U.S. Ontario Premier Doug Ford is in favour of that measure, while most premiers and experts agreed it would only further hurt Canadian businesses.

Poilievre also said the digital services tax was a "terrible tax" but that Carney should have gotten something from Trump in return for backing down on it.

"Today, he removed even almost all the tariffs on the United States and got none lifted for Canada," Poilievre said.

Poilievre has proceeded to eviscerate Carney.

"He continues to make concessions without any gains," Poilievre said, still speaking French, referring to today's announcement ending most counter-tariffs.

"He is showing extraordinary weakness."

The Conservative leader says a record amount of money has left the country in Carney's five months in office and that the prime minister has failed to deliver on his promise to end the trade war with the U.S.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is starting his remarks in French.

This is one of the leader's first news conferences since winning back a seat in Parliament in the Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot.

He says he wants to offer positive solutions to the trade war.

"I want [Carney] to steal my ideas," Poilievre said, adding he wants to work with other party leaders on a Canada Sovereignty Act.

He said he's offered several times to advise the government on its trade negotiations with the U.S.

"We will pass judgment however on Mr. Carney's decisions," said Poilievre. "Now is the time to judge his performance."

We’ve seen hints that Carney would drop some counter-tariffs.

Maybe the best example is when Carney said it himself.

In early August, the prime minister expressed an openness to removing existing tariffs if it would help Canadian industries — at the time a surprising acknowledgement, considering all his election talk of being tough on Trump.

"We've always said we will apply tariffs where they had the maximum impact on the United States and minimum impact in Canada," Carney said.

"We look at what we can do for our industry that's most effective. In some cases that will be to remove tariffs."

He made those comments after Trump hiked tariffs on some Canadian goods to 35 per cent.

Carney didn’t retaliate — neither at that point nor in June when Trump doubled tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

The prime minister also tried to make peace this summer when he scrapped the Trudeau-era levy on web giants in order to restart trade negotiations that Trump had paused over that tax.

It’s not clear, though, what Canada won from that concession.

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