Prime Minister Mark Carney has pledged a renewed focus on domestic procurement and industrial investment in response to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on certain Canadian exports to 35%.

The hikes came after Friday’s deadline for a new Canada-U.S. trade deal passed without a new deal getting done.

The hikes include imports of Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber, among other products, heavily impacting Canada’s commercial real estate and construction sectors.

“President Trump has announced that the United States will increase its tariffs to 35% on those Canadian exports that are not covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA,” Carney said in a statement minutes after the hikes were announced Friday. “While the Canadian government is disappointed by this action, we remain committed to CUSMA, which is the world’s second-largest free- trade agreement by trading volume.”

Although CUSMA-covered goods still benefit from relatively low U.S. tariffs, Canadian sectors such as lumber, steel, aluminum and automotive remain heavily affected by trade duties. In response, Carney pledged that Ottawa will “protect Canadian jobs, invest in our industrial competitiveness, buy Canadian, and diversify our export markets.”

The federal government is also pushing back against the U.S. justification for the tariff hike, which cited cross-border fentanyl trafficking.

Canadian officials remained in Washington after the deadline for a new trade deal passed. They will continue to negotiate a new agreement.

Pictured: A truck approaches a Canada-U.S. border crossing in B.C. with southward-bound plywood.

Photo: Shutterstock

“Canada accounts for only 1% of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce these volumes,” he said, citing investments in law enforcement, surveillance and border security.

Carney emphasized that the country must focus inward to weather growing economic uncertainty. “Canadians will be our own best customer, creating more well-paying careers at home, as we strengthen and diversify our trading partnerships throughout the world,” he said. “We can give ourselves more than any foreign government can ever take away by building with Canadian workers and by using Canadian resources to benefit all Canadians.”

The hikes came after the deadline for