John Paul Tasker · CBC News May 28, 2026
Carney says Canada and U.S. need a ‘new partnership’
Prime Minister Mark Carney told a crowd of New York industry titans and financiers on Thursday that Canada and the U.S. need to pursue a new partnership — a bilateral relationship premised not on how things were done in the past but one where a stronger, more independent Canada can selectively help “make America great again.”
Carney said as U.S. President Donald Trump prompts “tectonic shifts” in trade, and as the world becomes “more divided and dangerous,” Canada must focus more on “taking care of ourselves” and building up at home by embracing its status as an energy superpower.
But that doesn’t mean Canada wants to close itself off from the U.S., Carney said.
Rather, he said the government wants the two sides to pursue a “true partnership” and better co-operate on some strategic sectors, notably those hammered by Trump’s sectoral tariffs.
Nodding to the “Fortress North America” concept floated by Ontario Premier Doug Ford and some U.S. interests, which prioritizes continental co-operation in the face of Chinese economic threats, Carney said this new relationship would “re-imagine co-operation in specific sectors deeply challenged by global competition.”
Carney said the U.S. is dependent on Canadian oil, natural gas, electricity, aluminum, potash, nickel, copper and industrial components, and the two sides should do more business together in these sectors, not less.
“That is mutual strength. Canada Strong will help make America great again. The examples are legion where we should work together and compete with the world together,” he said.
Carney said his government has pitched “specific, practical proposals,” on autos, aluminum, energy and minerals to the Americans to move on from this period of trade antagonism.
Carney didn’t say what the reception has been to those ideas. But there have been no formal trade talks in months, and there are no apparent signs a breakthrough is imminent.
Carney signalled that the old relationship where a subservient Canada essentially falls in line with what the U.S. wants is over.
What should replace it is a bilateral relationship featuring “a different Canada, a stronger Canada, a more confident Canada” that can deliver what the U.S needs on more equitable terms, he said.
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Speaking later during a fireside chat with the Economic Club of New York, Carney projected some confidence that there will be a resolution to the irritants that plague the Canada-U.S. trading relationship.
“We’ll work our way through it,” Carney said.
Carney said Canada is leaning into its strengths, developing energy and investing in the defence and space sectors — creating “huge opportunities” for the U.S. because the economy at home is getting bigger and richer.
On energy in particular, Carney said, Canada sits on an abundance of oil and gas and generates clean electricity that can help power the economic revolution that’s underway stateside as artificial intelligence-related development explodes.
There will be an “acute” energy shortage in the U.S. as AI takes off, Carney said, and Canada “can be part of the solution.”
Carney raised the government’s recent decision to fast-track a major graphite mine in Quebec and help negotiate a major B.C. LNG purchase agreement with Germany, as examples of Ottawa moving quickly to stand up industries that make lucrative products the world needs.
Developing those resources, sometimes in partnership with American interests, “is a structural solution to a new partnership with the U.S.,” he said.
Carney’s remarks come at a time when U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer insists there will be tariffs on some Canadian goods, something Carney’s negotiators are actively trying to avoid.
“We have to have some degree of tariff to deal with the giant deficit,” Greer said this week during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“Most countries said, ‘We understand and we will remove some non-tariff barriers.’ Canada’s approach has been different,” he said.
Greer’s office announced Wednesday a series of dates over the summer when the U.S. and Mexico will sit down to negotiate the upcoming CUSMA review. No dates were set for talks with Canada.
Like Carney on Thursday, Greer said there are areas where there is “common economic benefit,” like energy, critical minerals and fertilizer.
But “when it comes to some economic goods, we have a different view,” he said, pointing to autos as an area where the U.S. wants to dominate and, in turn, suppress Canadian manufacturing through the aggressive use of tariffs.
“I think on some of these issues it will be a challenging negotiation but on some issues it will be fine,” he said.
You can watch the video of PM Carney’s speech below.
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