I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the Liberal Party of Canada wants a trade war with the United States. And it’s becoming clearer by the day. Our new prime minister, Mark Carney, hasn’t even picked up the phone to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump. Not once. It’s been weeks, and there’s still no effort to reach out. No handshake. No face-to-face. Nothing. How exactly does he plan to manage the most important relationship this country has if he won’t even speak to the man running the White House?
This isn’t political theatre anymore. This is reality. A leader who refuses to deal with an aggressive and unpredictable U.S. president is playing with fire. And every Canadian—especially those who make their living through trade—will pay the price.
What is Carney waiting for? A formal invitation? The longer he delays, the more damage is done. We’ve already seen early layoffs in sectors that rely on cross-border trade.
Manufacturing and agriculture are feeling it first, but it won’t stop there. According to data from the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters Association, over 75% of Canada’s merchandise exports go to the U.S. That’s about $450 billion a year. If even a small percentage of that is disrupted, the economic shock will ripple across every province and territory. And it’s already starting.
Yet, Carney seems unfazed. He’s more interested in photo ops and international conferences, preaching his Green Agenda to the world while the Canadian economy burns at home. For a guy who claims to care about reducing emissions, he’s racking up more frequent flyer miles than most world leaders. The irony isn’t lost on many of us.
This isn’t leadership. It’s a dangerous game of distraction. While Canadians talk about “elbows up” and trade tough talk, they’re missing the real play here. Carney and the Liberals believe a tariff war with the U.S. will unite Canadians under a false sense of nationalism. A common enemy makes people forget about inconvenient truths: a trillion-dollar federal debt, skyrocketing government spending, inflation, and housing costs that have pushed many families to the brink.
It’s basic strategy. If Canadians are angry at Trump, they won’t be angry at Ottawa. If the headlines scream about American tariffs, no one talks about why groceries now cost 20% more than they did two years ago, or why our debt-to-GDP ratio has ballooned to nearly 90%, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer. They won’t ask why this government keeps spending as if money grows on trees.
This is a political ploy. It doesn’t take a genius to see it. A trade war might hurt the average Canadian, but it’s good for Liberal politics. It gives them something to campaign on. They can paint themselves as defenders of Canada, standing tall against the “bully” in Washington. Meanwhile, they quietly keep spending borrowed money, expanding government programs, and digging us deeper into a debt hole we may never climb out of.
But here’s the problem: none of this hurts Trump. Carney can grandstand all he wants in Ottawa and Brussels, but Trump doesn’t care. He’s focused on what benefits America. If Canadian suppliers can’t deliver because of tariffs or delays, U.S. companies will just find different providers. And once those supply chains are replaced, we may never get them back.
History tells us this. During the last round of U.S.-China tariff wars, American companies rapidly shifted their sourcing to Vietnam, Mexico, and other countries. Many never returned to their original suppliers, even when tariffs were reduced. We’re seeing the same thing happen now. According to Bloomberg, U.S. importers are already eyeing Mexico and South Korea as alternative sources for key goods traditionally imported from Canada. Every day Carney stalls, more business slips through our fingers.
And it gets worse. Carney’s failure to engage Trump personally is viewed as weakness. Like him or not, Trump respects directness and strength. You don’t have to agree with him, but you’d better show up and fight your corner. The European leaders who’ve had any success with Trump—Macron, Johnson, even Trudeau in earlier days—did it by getting in front of him, not hiding behind press releases and statements.
Carney isn’t just dodging Trump; he’s dodging his responsibility to Canadians. He was appointed to defend this country’s economic interests, not to score points at international climate summits. Right now, he’s doing the latter at the expense of the former.
And Canadians are paying the price. Layoffs in the auto sector have already begun in Ontario. Saskatchewan grain farmers are warning of potential losses if tariffs hit their U.S. export markets. The Forest Products Association of Canada says softwood lumber producers are bracing for new duties. This isn’t speculation—it’s happening.
What’s Carney’s response? Silence. No call to Trump. No negotiation team in Washington. No emergency summit. Just the usual Liberal talking points about “standing up for Canada” and “diversifying trade.” That’s fine in theory, but diversification doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t pivot half a trillion dollars in trade to new markets on a dime. Even if we could, countries like China come with their own risks, as our canola and pork exporters learned the hard way.
We are playing with time we don’t have. The longer Carney delays, the harder it will be to repair this damage. Every hour he spends flying around the world instead of sitting across the table from Trump costs Canadian businesses and workers. And if you think things are bad now, wait until those contracts are permanently lost.
Carney needs to make the call. It should have been the first thing he did after being sworn in. Instead, he’s gambling with our economic future to gain a few points in the polls. This isn’t leadership. It’s negligence.
Canada cannot afford a trade war with its largest customer. We need solutions, not stunts. We need leadership, not lectures. And we need them now.
The clock is ticking.