Nick Murray · The Canadian Press September 08, 2026
PM says pivot will come at a cost, but ‘it doesn’t come close to the cost of standing still’
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Mark Carney is warning Canadians the country’s pivot away from the United States will “come at a cost” — but insists the alternative would be far worse.
In a national video address released Tuesday — hours after Canada’s retaliatory tariffs kicked in — Carney discussed Canada’s plan to respond to the U.S. trade war by striking new trade deals with other countries.
“We have everything we need to pivot and prosper,” he said.
“That pivot will come at a cost. There’s always a cost to action. But it doesn’t come close to the cost of standing still.”
The video is the latest in a series Carney launched last spring to update Canadians on his government’s polices and its response to U.S. trade actions.
Carney said the goal of those policies is to make Canada stronger and more resilient so that “no country can ever hold us hostage, and that we can live how we want to live.”
Carney cut off trade talks with the United States last month. The two sides failed to reach a deal before U.S. President Donald Trump’s deadline for imposing new 50 per cent tariffs on nearly $28 billion in Canadian goods.
In his video address, Carney again accused the U.S. side of trying to introduce measures that would have restricted Canada’s ability to trade with other countries, and its ability to promote and protect the French language and culture…
continue the Canadian Press story here
Watch the full remarks in the video below.