OTTAWA — U.S. negotiators were pushing in trade talks last month for concessions from Canada that would have caused key sectors like the automotive industry to either become U.S. subsidiaries or be “wiped out” entirely, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Tuesday. Until late last month, Canada and the U.S. were negotiating a deal to address trade irritants on both sides of the border. Just ahead of a U.S.-imposed deadline of Aug. 22, Carney suspended those talks and summoned his negotiating team home. “The attitude of the United States in these discussions, and subsequently, has been one that core Canadian industries either would be subsidiaries effectively of the United States industries, or would put in place terms where those industries would be gradually wound down in Canada and wiped out,” Carney said in a scrum with reporters outside his office building. “Of course, we’re not going to accept those terms.” Carney added there were “mutually beneficial” elements of a deal in place before the talks broke down last month. The prime minister said an “accumulation of issues, each of them serious enough,” prevented Canada from signing a deal, including the effects of proposed concessions on the French language and culture and restrictions on Canada’s ability to trade freely with other nations. Carney said Canada is willing to get back to the table when the Americans are ready to have a “serious” discussion. “When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions,” he said. “It’s not constructive but that’s their democracy.” Since the negotiations collapsed, U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet have taken to news shows and social media to repeatedly attack Canada. Trump signed an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America on U.S. maps, and the president and his cabinet secretaries posted AI images and memes disparaging Canada. Carney discussed developments in trade talks with labour groups in Ottawa on Tuesday. A news release from the Prime Minister’s Office said groups attending the meeting included Canada’s Building Trades Unions, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the United Steelworkers, Unifor and Teamsters Canada. Bea Bruske, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, was at the meeting. She said Canada’s chief trade negotiator Janice Charette and Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu also attended. “It was really good to be able to unpack the challenges and concerns that labour has in this moment and some of the solutions that we wanted to offer,” she said. Bruske said the union representatives all seemed to agree that the government’s decision to walk away from talks with the U.S. was the right one. The Canadian Labour Congress is urging the government to strengthen employment insurance and support workers who lose their jobs to the broader economic fallout from tariffs. It’s also warning against weakening collective bargaining rights through the current Canada Labour Code review. Bruske said the union representatives reiterated the importance of supporting affected workers and also discussed getting major projects off the ground and ensuring investments are tied to employment. “I really got the feeling that the prime minister wanted to listen to where labour is at and where the different segments and the different sectors of the economy are at,” she said. “The one point, though, that he did make is that we can’t expect that things will go back to normal any time soon, whether it’s this November or November two years’ time from now... There is a new normal that we have to get adjusted to.” Marty Warren, national director of The United Steelworkers union, also attended the meeting. He said in a media statement that “Canada was right to hold the line rather than accept a bad deal and right to respond to these unjustified tariffs with counter-tariffs.” “But workers did not start this trade war and should not pay the price,” he added. “With new counter-tariffs taking effect Sept. 8, keeping workers working and ensuring those affected have the supports they need must be the priority.” The steelworkers are asking the government to introduce improvements to employment insurance, a new program to help keep affected workers keep their jobs and enhanced buy-Canadian policies, among other measures. Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, held a rally on Parliament Hill in late August to urge the government to protect Canadian jobs from U.S. trade pressure. The federal government has announced a new package of relief for businesses and workers affected by Trump’s latest round of tariffs. In all, $7.5 billion is being put toward modifying and expanding existing programs and creating new streams of funding. The government said that funding comes on top of the $25 billion in relief programs created over the last 18 months. Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said on social media Tuesday that he met with his U.S. counterpart Scott Bessent at the G20 finance ministers’ meetings in North Carolina. It’s believed to be the first face-to-face meeting between high-ranking Canadian and U.S. officials since trade talks between the two nations broke down. “Canada’s plan A has always been clear: strengthening our economy at home and expanding our trade relationships abroad,” Champagne said. “We will continue to advance objectives that support that plan and benefit Canada’s workers, sectors and domestic interests.” On Monday, Carney spoke about the friction with the U.S. with a group of business leaders from companies such as RBC, Bombardier, OpenText and Hydro-Quebec. Canada’s counter-tariffs on nearly $28 billion worth of U.S. products are scheduled to begin on Sept. 8. The Canadian tariffs will range from 15 to 50 per cent and target a wide range of goods, including dairy products, steel, copper and some beauty products. The tariffs are in response to the 50 per cent duty Trump placed on $28 billion in Canadian goods, ranging from hockey sticks to honey. The U.S. levies were in part a response to the decision by all Canadian provinces, apart from Alberta and Saskatchewan, to refuse to stock U.S. products on liquor store shelves due to American tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos. Trump has threatened to increase Canadian automotive tariffs to 50 per cent from 25 per cent in the new year in response to Canada’s latest retaliatory tariffs. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2026. With files from Sarah Ritchie David Baxter and Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
