Carney Says Canada Can Wait Rather Than Accept a Bad U.S. Trade Deal

Canada’s prime minister says Ottawa will return to negotiations when conditions are right, while pursuing an economic strategy designed to make the country “stronger, more resilient, more independent.”

TORONTO, Sept. 16, 2026 — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government will not rush into another trade agreement with the United States simply to end its escalating confrontation with Washington.

Instead, Carney is signaling that Canada can wait until conditions improve, while using the dispute to accelerate investment, diversify international trade and reduce the country’s dependence on the American economy.

The prime minister delivered that message Tuesday to hundreds of executives and investors attending the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto, one day before continuing his economic outreach in Europe.

Carney told his American counterparts that Canada and the United States would always remain neighbors, but said successful cooperation requires both countries to behave as partners respecting each other’s sovereignty.

 

 

 

“When those opportunities return,” Carney said, Canada would approach Washington as an even stronger, more resilient and more independent partner, according to reporting from the Associated Press.

His comments clarify the “Canada will wait” message circulating online. Carney has not said Canada will permanently refuse negotiations; instead, Ottawa says it will wait for a mutually beneficial opportunity.

The strategy follows the dramatic collapse of trade negotiations last month, when Carney ordered Canadian negotiators home after concluding the latest American offer demanded too much while providing insufficient benefits.

In his August 22 statement, Carney said Canada had negotiated intensively for more than a year but would never accept an agreement “at any price or on any time frame.”

Ottawa had sought continued tariff-free access for most Canadian businesses, lower American tariffs on strategic industries and greater certainty for companies operating across the deeply integrated North American economy.

Canada offered concessions of its own, including dropping remaining retaliatory tariffs on strategic sectors if Washington substantially lowered American duties to levels that allowed Canadian exporters to remain competitive.

But Carney said Washington eventually proposed terms his government considered economically unacceptable while seeking compromises involving Canadian sovereignty, cultural protections and strategically important industries.

The prime minister consequently suspended negotiations and announced dollar-for-dollar retaliation targeting American steel, dairy products, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, electronics and other goods.

Washington subsequently imposed 50% tariffs on approximately $20 billion in Canadian goods, while the Trump administration has introduced additional restrictions affecting Canadian products and access to federal procurement.

 

 

 

Despite those measures, Carney recently described Washington’s latest actions as “relatively modest” compared with previous steps and declined to promise another immediate round of Canadian retaliation.

He instead said Ottawa’s priority should increasingly be what Canada can control: strengthening its domestic economy, attracting investment and expanding commercial relationships beyond the United States.

That strategy received another significant component Tuesday when Carney announced expanded business tax incentives intended to make Canada substantially more attractive to companies considering large investments.

The government says its expanded “productivity mega deduction” will reduce Canada’s effective tax rate on new investment to 6.4%, less than half the comparable American rate.

Businesses would immediately be permitted to write off more than 65% of eligible capital investment, compared with roughly 15% previously, according to details Carney presented at the Toronto summit.

Carney said the resulting incentive to invest in Canada would be approximately twice as large as in the United States, explicitly positioning the country to compete with Washington for international capital.

The government also plans to seek private investment through long-term concessions involving Canada’s four largest airports while retaining public ownership, potentially generating billions of dollars for additional infrastructure projects.

The broader strategy reflects Carney’s argument that the old U.S.-Canada relationship cannot simply be assumed to return once the immediate confrontation ends, declaring that “nostalgia is not a strategy.”

That does not mean economic separation is imminent. Carney noted that approximately 80% of U.S.-Canada trade remains tariff-free, leaving an enormous commercial relationship intact despite the confrontation.

Carney also explicitly said a mutually beneficial arrangement remains possible and that Canada will be ready to negotiate when circumstances make reaching such an agreement worthwhile for both countries.

President Donald Trump has taken a different approach, repeatedly using tariffs to pressure trading partners while encouraging manufacturers serving American consumers to move production and investment into the United States.

The political relationship has been complicated further by Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada should become America’s 51st state, comments Canadian political leaders have rejected as incompatible with their country’s sovereignty.

Carney is simultaneously pursuing closer relationships elsewhere, including Europe, although a Financial Times report Wednesday found several EU governments cautious about his proposal for a significantly deeper “unique alliance.”

European officials nevertheless support increased cooperation with Canada in areas including defence manufacturing and critical minerals, while both sides are working toward a digital trade agreement ahead of another summit.

For Ottawa, diversification is therefore becoming more than a negotiating tactic. Carney argues Canada must build enough economic strength that access to the American market cannot easily be used as leverage against it.

The current Canadian position is consequently more nuanced than simply refusing a U.S. deal: Ottawa remains prepared to negotiate, but says it is willing to wait rather than accept terms it considers damaging.

That leaves the next move uncertain. Carney says the door remains open when the United States offers the right conditions, while Canada continues building an economy designed to have more alternatives if Washington does not.