Carney says he has no plans to apply further trade pressure as U.S. midterms approach

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday he has no plans to apply new trade pressure on the U.S. as Americans prepare for crucial midterm elections that could end Republican control of Congress.

Speaking with reporters at a news conference in Vancouver on Tuesday, Carney said Canada has no intention of escalating the trade war, although he noted he never rules anything out.

“Our timing isn’t dictated by any specific aspect of the U.S. calendar,” Carney said.

“The reality is the cost of living is very high in the United States and there’s things Canada can do to help lower that cost of living.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to spend the next month campaigning in the lead-up to the midterms in states he sees as crucial battlegrounds. He’s expected this week to campaign in the Republican strongholds of Oklahoma, Alabama and Ohio.

Carney’s comments came hours after Trump stepped up the cross-border trade war as his outright bans on imports of certain Canadian goods took effect. That hit the brakes on new shipments of most Canadian-made booze, dairy byproducts and some motorcycles.

One of Trump’s trade advisers, Peter Navarro, warned Ottawa against interfering in the midterms Tuesday and berated Canada over its successful lobbying efforts in the past.

Speaking at the American Growth Summit in Washington, he told the audience that any Canadians in the room intent on lobbying the U.S. government should “get the hell out of our country.”

“The problem you have is you lobby this country, and you’ve been successful in the past and you think you can keep doing that. Memo to Canada: You cannot keep doing that,” Navarro said.

“That game is up and if you interfere in our elections in Maine or Michigan, you will pay even more dearly.”

When Carney was asked about Trump’s recent claim that Canada will apologize to his administration in order to secure a deal in the next few weeks, the prime minister laughed.

Carney said he would take note of Trump’s and Navarro’s comments but would not respond to either.

“It continues to be the case that Canada stands ready to negotiate in good faith,” Carney said.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc directly dismissed Trump’s claim.

“I’m not thinking the government of Canada is going to apologize for standing up for Canadian workers, Canadian businesses, defending our economy,” he said Tuesday, answering questions from reporters at an unrelated announcement in New Brunswick.

LeBlanc said the U.S. government “decided to apply a series of tariffs that violated the trade agreement” Trump’s first administration signed just six years ago. He said Canada will do what it must to support and protect its workers and businesses.

Trump said Monday he expects Canada to return to the negotiating table in the coming weeks with an apology.

“I think what’s going to happen is over the next three or four weeks, they’re going to come to us and they’re gonna say, ‘We’re gonna get rid of all the tariffs,'” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“We’re going to win everything.”

Tuesday’s import bans, which kicked in at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, bar Canadian exports of about three dozen different alcohol products, including beer, wine and spirits such as whiskies, vodka and gin. They also apply to different whey products, some types of molasses, non-alcoholic beer and some motorcycles.

BRP Inc. in Quebec confirmed that its three-wheel Can-Am Spyder and Canyon motorcycles “will be excluded from importation into the U.S.” But BRP said the impact likely won’t be felt until next year because it has completed most production and shipments for the current season.

Jacob Jensen, director of trade policy at the centre-right American Action Forum think tank, calculates the ban will cover US$967 million worth of Canadian imports, based on 2025 numbers.

Of that, 87 per cent would be alcoholic beverages the U.S. targeted because some Canadian provinces responded to Trump’s provocations by banning U.S. booze from store shelves.

The trade restrictions could prove devastating for the affected industries but are unlikely to significantly undermine Canada’s overall economic growth in the near term.

They follow the trade war ratcheting up in August, when Carney suspended talks and summoned LeBlanc and his negotiating team home from Washington.

Both countries accused each other of adding eleventh-hour changes to the agreement. U.S. tariffs hit $28 billion in Canadian goods the next day, followed on Sept. 8 by Canadian retaliatory tariffs targeting the same amount of American exports.

Since then, Trump signed an order directing some federal agencies to remove Canadian goods from procurement lists, and another to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America. That move does not affect the lake’s name in Canada.

LeBlanc said Tuesday detailed trade talks are not happening but officials from both countries are still in contact.

“If the prime minister concludes at some point that there’s a deal possible that protects the sovereignty of our country, that would be in the economic interests of the country, then we would obviously be in a position to have that conversation,” he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2026.

— With files from Daniel Johnson in Toronto, Kyle Duggan in Ottawa and The Associated Press

Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press