The Latest - U.S. President Donald Trump is going ahead with a punishing 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles, ratcheting up the trade war.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney said he’d be going back to Ottawa to respond. Carney, who prioritized conversations with allies over meeting Trump, said it would now be appropriate to speak to the president “soon.”
The Conservative and NDP leaders both called for immediate action to support autoworkers. Industry leaders scrambled for details on the U.S. policy.
Updates March 27 - Rhianna Schmunk We're wrapping up our live updates!
Liberal Leader Mark Carney applauds supporters at a campaign rally in Kitchener, Ont., on Wednesday.
We'll have more coverage on what started as a normal campaign day — then turned into something very different — at CBCNews.ca. Here are some links to help you out if you're looking for a particular topic from the day:
Trump has levelled what may be his most devastating tariffs yet, hitting a sizable chunk of the North American cross-border auto trade.
Carney said he's ready with retaliatory tariffs. Earlier, the Liberal leader was questioned over his former investment firm's use of offshore tax havens for two billion-dollar funds.
Singh admitted the NDP is facing “massive challenges” as voters look for a leader to handle Trump. Plus, we compared Carney and Poilievre's proposed income tax cuts. Tomorrow, we'll have a story about Ontario autoworkers feeling the strain of Trump's tariffs. We'll also have a story with voters in the side-by-side ridings where Carney and Poilievre are competing for seats.
Share - Verity Stevenson Here’s what the party leaders had to say about Trump — and each other!
Federal party leaders Pierre Poilievre, Mark Carney and Jagmeet Singh are seen in this composite photo.
The executive order Trump signed today thrust the president back in the spotlight of Canadian politics. It moves forward with 25 percent tariffs on vehicles not built in the U.S. While taking aim at Trump, federal party leaders still took the time to throw rhetorical mud at each other.
At the Liberals' first rally, Mark Carney took several aims at Pierre Poilievre, saying he's "in sync with President Trump" and would cave to any of his demands. He brought up Poilievre's lack of security clearance again, saying the Conservative leader is "choosing to be wilfully blind to the many and growing threats to our country." Meanwhile, Poilievre blamed the Canadian economy's reliance on American trade on "10 years of economic weakness” under the Liberals.
"Almost all of our energy [and] raw materials go south because we can't get them anywhere else," Poilievre said, referring to the Impact Assessment Act. That law allows federal regulators to block resource and infrastructure projects that could have adverse environmental effects.
The NDP's Jagmeet Singh also reacted to the auto tariffs, saying Carney should have done more for workers before calling a snap election. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said he was surprised Carney hadn't spoken with Trump before today's tariff announcement.
Share - Marina von Stackelberg Singh pressed on why he didn’t meet with workers at risk from Trump tariffs!
Singh makes a pizza during a campaign stop on Wednesday in Hamilton.
The NDP leader has the endorsement of United Steelworkers and several other major unions. Hamilton, a city forged from the steel industry with strong working-class roots, will likely be one of the most hurt by Trump’s tariffs. But Singh didn’t announce new plans to tackle the U.S. threats or meet with workers impacted by them on his Wednesday campaign stop in Canada’s Steeltown.
Instead at a recreation centre, the NDP leader unveiled a plan to lower income taxes and remove the GST from home heating and phone and interest bills. He also spent some time making pizza and meeting seniors. Reporters pressed Singh on why he wasn't meeting with those affected by the tariffs.
The NDP have previously called on the Liberal government to reform employment insurance to make it easier for workers to access. “I've actually criticized the Liberal government for not putting in place protections for those workers. They've said we've got nothing in place for us to go to cover our bills,” Singh said.
Today, Liberal Leader Mark Carney met with Unifor leaders. Singh’s team hasn’t said whether it will change its campaign plans based on Trump's latest tariff announcement.
Share - Rhianna Schmunk Fact check: Is there such a thing as a ‘Canadian’ or ‘American’ car?
Vehicles are seen at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Cambridge, Ont., on March 13.
Trump recently said part of his rationale for auto tariffs was that he doesn’t want Canadian cars in the American market. But experts who spoke with CBC News said they don’t believe those exist. As our fact-checking team reported last month, you’d be hard-pressed to find a purely Canadian or purely American vehicle because the two countries’ auto industries are so deeply integrated after decades of collaboration.
Parts can go back and forth over the Canada-U.S. border a half-dozen times before the car is even finished, said Toronto-based economist Tu Nguyen.
Share - Verity Stevenson Carney is billing himself as the best candidate to deal with Trump.
"What we are facing now is the most significant crisis of our lifetime," the Liberal leader said, adding Canada needs to reduce its reliance on the U.S. and "look for new markets." He said his nine days as prime minister before calling the election proved he can get a lot done quickly.
He pointed to his trips to Paris and London to strengthen European trade relationships, as well as his meeting with Canada’s premiers. Carney said that before the meeting, the premiers "all agreed on one thing: they hate the federal government." But he said his proposal to get rid of "duplicative federal regulations" got them to agree to eliminate barriers to trade in the provinces. That drew big cheers from the crowd.
The Liberal leader was interrupted by hecklers three times, but rolled with it and said one of his values is tolerance. The friendly crowd chanted his name to drown out hecklers’ shouts. Carney also said he's done more in nine days "than Pierre Poilievre has imagined," adding that “most of his lines, he's just mimicking Donald Trump."
Share - Verity Stevenson Liberal leader says Canada needs ‘big changes’.
Carney started off by giving shoutouts to Kitchener-Waterloo, calling it the heart of advanced manufacturing and the Canadian tech industry. "Who's ready to stand up for Canada? Who's ready to help the Liberal party win the most consequential election in our lifetime?" Carney said, shortly before being briefly interrupted by a heckler. Responding to a supporter’s suggestion, the Liberal leader said the party needed to win a majority, because "we need big changes in this country.”
Carney said his lack of political experience is a good thing. "I'm not a career politician. There's some in this race who've only done that," he said, taking a jab at Poilievre who has been an MP since 2004.
Share March 26 - Verity Stevenson Carney speaks at Liberal rally.
A crowd gathers in Kitchener, Ont., on Wednesday at a Mark Carney rally.
The Liberals are hosting their first rally in Kitchener, Ont., on 2025-03-26. Carney is speaking there before heading back to Ottawa for government meetings. The party has told my colleague Ashley Burke the venue is at capacity with more than 1,300 people and some waiting in line outside.
"Alright. This is awesome. This is Canada. Thank God I'm here," Carney said to cheers. "I've got a lot to get off my chest. It's been a long day." Burke, one of our reporters covering the Liberal campaign, says this is the biggest crowd we’ve seen yet at his events. It’s also the loudest, with lots of chanting and booing at his comments about Trump and Poilievre.
Share The policy is complicated, but with one main goal Alex Panetta!
The sum total of all Trump’s moves is to make selling cars into the United States much more complicated and expensive. He does it in several different ways, but it all fits under the same theme: torture anyone who tries to build a vehicle for the U.S. market outside the United States.
One analyst lamented that this is a departure from 60 years of tradition, starting with the 1965 Auto Pact that led to Canada-U.S. free trade. Furthermore, it makes a mockery of the agreement that Trump himself signed, CUSMA, which was supposed to allow for stable, predictable trade.
“The Americans have lost their credibility in terms of being a reliable trading partner,” said Fraser Johnson, an expert on auto supply chains at Western University in London, Ont. He said it won’t fully stall the industry, though. For starters, nearly three-quarters of Canada‘s auto jobs involve parts, not finished vehicles. But the vast majority of those finished vehicles are exported to the United States.
But Johnson said it will do real damage with little benefit to the United States, as it takes years to build new assembly plants. “This is not good news for anybody,” he said.
Share These may be Trump’s most devastating tariffs yet Alex Panetta.
Alex Panetta here, CBC’s correspondent in Washington, D.C. This tariff hits a sizable chunk of the North American cross-border auto trade immediately — and potentially all of it later.
The new 25 percent duty will strike all finished vehicles imported into the U.S. starting next week, some parts later, and potentially all parts eventually. It’s a frightening prospect for hundreds of thousands of Canadians whose jobs are connected to the auto sector, the largest manufacturing industry in Canada and second-largest source of exports to the U.S. after oil.
Share- Rhianna Schmunk Trump's executive order has a reprieve for auto part imports!
A worker checks welded parts from an auto weld assembly line at Alfield Industries in Vaughan, Ont., in 2017.
The order, which is available online now, has a few more details. It said vehicles like cars, SUVs and light trucks will be subject to the new levy as of midnight on April 3, but there will be a temporary reprieve for auto part imports.
Those will be subject to the tariffs at an unspecified date, “no later than May 3." There’s also an indefinite exception for auto parts produced under rules of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade (CUSMA).
