The day before talks with Carney, Trump says his tariffs are working

U.S. President Donald Trump defended his tariff policy and said it has been effective at persuading companies to leave Canada for the United States, a day ahead of a White House meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney where the two leaders are expected to discuss trade.

Mr. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, celebrated his protectionist levies as the actions of a successful president.

“Well, I guess he’s going to ask about tariffs, because a lot of companies from Canada are moving into the United States, you know, everybody’s moving back,” he said when asked what would be on the agenda for his Tuesday meeting with the Prime Minister. “They’re losing a lot of companies in Canada.”

Mr. Trump did not specify which companies he was referring to, but insisted these were businesses that “left here 20 years ago” because “presidents that sat here right at this desk weren’t doing their job.”

When asked whether he would be open to changing his position on tariffs in his talks with Mr. Carney, Mr. Trump replied by talking up the amount of money the levies have raised for the U.S. Treasury.

“They find billions of dollars that they didn’t even know they had. Recently, they said they found billions of dollars and they couldn’t understand it. I said ‘check the tariffs shelf,’ and they come in the next hour and they say ‘sir, you’re right, it’s from the tariffs,’” Mr. Trump said.

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The tariffs are paid by importers bringing Canadian and other foreign products into the U.S., with the cost typically passed on to American consumers.

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Mr. Carney, who will arrive at the White House at 11:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, is facing pressure at home to find some certainty and stability for Canada as the damage from mounting U.S. tariffs rises.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that dealing with the U.S. President is unpredictable, but that he hopes Canada can achieve certainty with a fair trade deal for both sides.

“I don’t want the Prime Minister in there getting bullied,” the Premier said from Quebec City, where he and Quebec Premier François Legault were attending a summit with U.S. governors.

“I think it’d be beneficial for both countries if we saw some relief on the tariffs,” Mr. Ford said. “We ship in billions of dollars of U.S. steel every single year, and we export steel as well. But for the strength of their manufacturing sector, strength of their military, we need to make sure that we have a fair trading deal when it comes to steel or any other products.”

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Separately on Monday, the Economist magazine reported, based on a Sept. 29 interview with Mr. Carney, that the Prime Minister’s “team expects the meeting to lead to partial relief on steel tariffs, and perhaps those on aluminum.”

Asked for comment on the article, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that the purpose of the meeting is “a broad look at shared priorities and issues” as both countries prepare for an expected 2026 renegotiation of the continental trade pact, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

The Canadian government has played down expectations, saying it does not expect any significant breakthroughs at the meeting.

Mr. Legault said Monday that he did not want to set expectations for the Carney-Trump meeting too high, but that stability is needed since the levies are damaging business investment in Canada.

“What will happen next week? What will happen with the renegotiation of the USMCA next year?” Mr. Legault said.

“The most important thing is to have a long-term forecast about the market, and right now it’s total uncertainty. So, we can see that private investments are really on pause everywhere in Canada.”

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Also on Monday, Mr. Trump said foreign-made medium- and heavy-duty trucks would face a previously announced 25-per-cent tariff as of Nov. 1. Ford Canada had announced in 2024 it was planning to assemble heavy-duty F-Series Super Duty pickups in Oakville, Ont.

After Mr. Carney’s first meeting at the White House, in May, he returned without any measurable progress in ending a costly trade war, but avoided any sign of conflict with the mercurial President.

The head of a major Canadian business lobby said he’s expecting incremental progress on one or more of the multitude of U.S. tariffs hitting sectors including steel, aluminum, cars and autos.

“I’m optimistic that something will come out of Tuesday, albeit small, albeit incremental, but progress nonetheless,” Goldy Hyder, president of the Business Council of Canada, said, noting Canada and the U.S. have been talking for months.

Asked what progress would look like, Mr. Hyder said: “A carve-out here, an exemption there, a reduction there.”

Since returning to the White House earlier this year, Mr. Trump has hit Canada with a string of tariffs: 50 per cent on steel and aluminum, 25 per cent on autos – with a carve-out for U.S. parts – and 35 per cent on any goods traded outside the USMCA, with the exception of oil, gas and potash, which are subject to 10-per-cent tariffs.

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On Sept. 30, Mr. Trump imposed a new 10-per-cent tariff on Canadian softwood-lumber shipments, raising the total levy on softwood from Canada to more than 45 per cent.

In recent months, Canada has offered several concessions to the Americans, including scrapping a digital services tax that would have hit U.S. tech giants and also removing retaliatory tariffs on U.S goods.

Mr. Hyder said the Prime Minister needs to spend more time with the President, noting Mr. Carney has crossed the Atlantic five times to visit either Britain or Europe.

He said foreign leaders make progress when they deal with the President as opposed to when their deputies deal with Mr. Trump’s deputies and this meeting should be about deepening the relationship.

“Our friends in Washington keep telling us ‘You have to talk to the President. There’s an audience of one,’” the Business Council CEO said of how to reach deals.

“It doesn’t matter whether they’re napkin agreements. It doesn’t matter whether they are side agreements.”

Mr. Carney is staying across from the White House at Blair House, an official guest residence for dignitaries invited by the President. He is joined on this trip by Dominic LeBlanc, Minister for Canada-U.S. trade, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, Energy Minister Tim Hodgson and Industry Minister Mélanie Joly.

Meanwhile, Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre challenged Mr. Carney to bring home results from his meeting with Mr. Trump.

In an open letter to Mr. Carney released Monday, Mr. Poilievre noted former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper struck a truce in the long-running Canada-U.S. softwood lumber dispute within 80 days of taking office.

“If you only return with excuses, broken promises and photo ops, you will have failed our workers, our businesses and our country,” the Conservative Leader wrote.