Poilievre Tells Washington and Ottawa to “End the Tariffs” as Conservatives Push Tariff-Free Canada–U.S. Trade

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Pierre Poilievre is sharpening a message that has become central to the Conservatives’ response to the Canada–U.S. trade conflict: both governments should find a way back to tariff-free commerce. The Conservative leader used the blunt phrase “we need to end the tariffs” earlier in 2026 and carried the same argument into a September visit to New York, where he urged Americans to “knock down” trade barriers between the two countries.

The appeal comes at a difficult moment. Canada and the United States have exchanged increasingly severe trade measures, formal negotiations have broken down, and Washington is preparing additional restrictions. Ottawa, meanwhile, has responded with its own counter-tariffs while pursuing a broader strategy of reducing Canada’s dependence on the U.S. market.

Poilievre’s Message Is Increasingly Aimed at Both Capitals

Poilievre’s tariff position has developed over several months rather than emerging from a single speech. Earlier in 2026, he said Canada needed to end U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber and argued for a broader tariff-free trade relationship with the United States. In September, he took that case directly to an American audience during a New York visit organized around business meetings and television appearances. Speaking on CNBC, he argued that Canada and the United States should “knock down those tariffs” and concentrate on building a stronger North American economy.

At home, the Conservatives have simultaneously pressed Prime Minister Mark Carney to keep seeking tariff relief without accepting what they describe as an inadequate agreement. After the August negotiations collapsed, Poilievre said Canada should not accept either one-sided tariffs or a bad deal and called for the fight for tariff-free trade to continue. That leaves the Conservative message pointed in two directions: Washington is being asked to dismantle its trade barriers, while Ottawa is being pushed to negotiate toward a return to much broader duty-free access.

The Conservative Proposal Goes Beyond Simply Cancelling One Set of Tariffs

Poilievre has attached several more specific ideas to the tariff-free message. His earlier economic plan called for eliminating tariffs affecting steel, aluminum, automobiles and lumber, establishing a tariff-free automotive arrangement covering capabilities and supply chains, and securing a broader exemption from Buy America procurement restrictions. The Conservative proposal has also linked closer North American automotive trade with limits on Chinese vehicle imports, arguing that Canada could use alignment with the United States on Chinese competition as bargaining leverage in negotiations with Washington.

Energy has also figured into that approach. Poilievre has advocated reviving a pipeline route comparable to Keystone XL as part of a wider effort to make Canadian energy and natural resources more strategically valuable to the United States. The underlying Conservative argument is that Canada should build greater economic leverage at home and then exchange some of that leverage for improved U.S. market access. Whether Washington would accept the package is a separate question, but it demonstrates that the party’s tariff-free proposal is intended as a broader North American economic strategy rather than simply a demand that the current tariff schedules disappear.

The Latest U.S. Tariffs Raised the Stakes Considerably

The immediate backdrop is Washington’s August escalation. According to Canada’s Department of Finance, new U.S. measures that took effect on August 22 imposed 50% tariffs on approximately $27.6 billion worth of Canadian goods. The U.S. administration invoked Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930 in several actions involving Canadian vehicles, dairy and alcoholic beverages, arguing that Canadian policies unfairly disadvantaged American commerce. Ottawa disputes Washington’s characterization of the dispute and maintains that the American trade actions are unjustified.

The conflict has continued evolving since then. The White House subsequently ordered import bans on certain Canadian products beginning September 29, replacing 50% duties on some affected goods with outright restrictions. Reuters reported on September 25 that Washington was also threatening 50% tariffs on Canadian autos, auto parts and steel beginning in January. That possibility is particularly significant because the North American manufacturing system was built around components moving repeatedly across borders rather than being produced entirely inside one country.

Ottawa’s Counter-Tariffs Mean the Conservative Demand Also Applies at Home

Canada has not responded passively. Effective September 8, Ottawa imposed new counter-tariffs of 15%, 25% and 50% on approximately $27.6 billion in U.S. imports. The federal government described the measures as a dollar-for-dollar response to the latest American tariffs. Products affected include goods in steel and aluminum, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, plastics and electronics. Existing Canadian countermeasures on some U.S. automobiles also remain in place.

That makes the phrase “end the tariffs” more complicated than simply asking Washington to change course. Any negotiated return to tariff-free trade would presumably require Canada to unwind retaliatory measures as well. Ottawa says those tariffs protect Canadian producers from being placed at a competitive disadvantage by American measures, while the Conservatives have demanded greater transparency about their cost to Canadian businesses and consumers. The Bank of Canada has said many counter-tariffs fall on intermediate inputs or products with Canadian substitutes, which could limit their overall inflation impact, but it has also warned that trade actions on both sides can raise business costs over time.

Most Canada–U.S. Trade Is Still Tariff-Free — but the Exposed Sectors Matter

Despite the increasingly hostile headlines, Canada and the United States have not returned to across-the-board protectionism. The federal government estimated earlier in 2026 that approximately 85% of Canadian exports to the United States continued to enter tariff-free under existing exemptions and CUSMA rules. At that point, Ottawa calculated an effective average U.S. tariff rate of about 5.2% on Canadian goods. That helps explain why enormous volumes of merchandise continue moving across the border even during the dispute.

The difficulty is that tariffs are concentrated in economically and politically important industries. Statistics Canada reported that the United States still received 71.7% of Canadian merchandise exports in 2025, despite that share falling from 75.9% in 2024. Canada’s merchandise surplus with the U.S. was $81.6 billion in 2025. Those figures make the American market extraordinarily difficult to replace quickly, particularly for factories, mills and resource producers whose infrastructure was built around continental customers. Tariffs affecting even a minority of total exports can therefore produce severe regional consequences when they fall on highly integrated sectors.

The Auto Industry Shows Why a Tariff Can Disrupt More Than the Final Product

Few industries demonstrate the depth of Canada–U.S. integration better than automobiles. The federal government says more than 90% of Canadian-made vehicles and about 60% of Canadian-made auto parts are exported to the United States, while the domestic automotive manufacturing industry directly supports roughly 125,000 jobs. Canada produced more than 1.2 million passenger vehicles in 2025. That exposure leaves assembly plants and suppliers particularly sensitive to any change in cross-border tariff rules.

Statistics Canada offers an even clearer picture of the dependence. In 2024, U.S. demand accounted for 76.4% of output and payroll jobs in Canada’s automobile and light-duty vehicle manufacturing industry, representing roughly 27,000 jobs in that specific manufacturing category. More than 93% of Canadian motor vehicle exports went to the United States. CUSMA itself acknowledges how integrated the system has become: a vehicle or its components can cross North American borders multiple times during production. That helps explain why Poilievre has placed a separate tariff-free automotive pact near the centre of the Conservative trade proposal.

Steel, Aluminum and Lumber Face Their Own Pressure Points

The same vulnerability extends beyond auto plants. Statistics Canada estimated that U.S. demand supported about 67% of payroll jobs in Canadian iron and steel mills and ferro-alloy manufacturing in 2024. Canadian manufacturers overall shipped $324 billion worth of goods to the United States that year, and more than one-quarter of the value of those manufacturing exports reflected imported U.S. content. That two-way dependence means tariffs can affect Canadian exporters while also disrupting American companies that supply Canadian factories.

Softwood lumber presents a different but equally persistent dispute. Natural Resources Canada says the combined U.S. duty and tariff rate facing most Canadian softwood lumber exporters reached 45.16% between the summer and fall of 2025, compared with 14.4% previously. Canadian companies have paid more than $10 billion in U.S. softwood lumber duties since 2017, according to the department. These longstanding sectoral disputes are one reason the Conservative demand for tariff-free trade repeatedly names lumber alongside steel, aluminum and autos rather than treating the conflict as one single tariff problem.

Carney and Poilievre Share Some Goals but Differ on the Longer-Term Strategy

There is more overlap between the government and opposition on the immediate objective than the political rhetoric sometimes suggests. Carney has said Ottawa wants to preserve tariff-free U.S. access for the vast majority of Canadian businesses and significantly reduce U.S. tariffs on strategic Canadian industries. His government has also said Canada remains willing to negotiate with Washington as long as an agreement protects Canadian sovereignty and key economic interests.

The larger difference concerns how Canada should position itself if the old relationship cannot be fully restored. Carney has repeatedly argued that Canada must become less dependent on any single trading partner, and his government has accelerated economic engagement with Europe and Asia. September initiatives included deeper discussions with the European Union, while Canadian officials said negotiations with the Philippines and ASEAN were more than 90% complete. Poilievre has acknowledged the value of diversified trade but continues to emphasize that the sheer scale and proximity of the American market make a durable tariff-free U.S. relationship indispensable. The debate is therefore increasingly about the weight Canada should assign to continental integration versus diversification, not whether exporters should seek access to both.

Washington’s Lack of Urgency May Be the Biggest Obstacle

The greatest challenge for the Conservative proposal is that Washington currently appears comfortable with the status quo. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on September 25 that the Trump administration saw “no urgency” in reaching a new deal with Canada and was comfortable with the existing trade relationship. The U.S. position is that Canada rejected a favourable near-final agreement and then escalated with retaliation. Ottawa gives a sharply different account, saying American negotiators introduced demands that would have compromised Canadian sovereignty and strategic industries.

Meanwhile, the economic cost of prolonged uncertainty is becoming increasingly important. The Bank of Canada says the newest U.S. tariffs directly affect products representing roughly 5% of Canadian goods exports to the United States. Governor Tiff Macklem has warned that the larger danger may come from uncertainty causing firms to postpone investment and hiring; if the new tariffs remain in place, the Bank has estimated fourth-quarter growth could be roughly halved to below 1%. Poilievre’s tariff-free push therefore arrives as both countries confront a basic question that goes beyond partisan politics: whether governments see more economic value in maintaining pressure or rebuilding the deeply integrated trading relationship that existed before the current dispute.

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