Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed that Canada will be matching the tariff actions taken by the United States on Wednesday.

“The Government of Canada will be responding by matching the U.S. approach with 25 per cent tariffs on all vehicles imported from the United States that are not compliant with CUSMA, our North American Free Trade Agreement,” Carney announced Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump implemented 25 per cent levies on Canadian auto-imports, effective Thursday, and Canadian auto parts, effective May 3rd.

However, Carney adds that unlike the U.S., Canadas tariffs will not target auto parts, or vehicle content coming in from Mexico, who is respecting the CUSMA agreement.

“We take these measures reluctantly, and we take them in ways that it’s intended they cause maximum impact in the United States, and minimum impact here in Canada.”

The Prime Minister adds that the country is going to need to revamp its approach to trade if the United States’ tariff attacks stick around long-term.

Some of Carney’s suggested improvements include “Breaking down internal trade barriers, so we can have one Canadian economy, not thirteen. Making Canada more productive and competitive. Building things in this country again. Millions more homes. Building clean and conventional energy. Building more public transport. More mines, more assembly lines. Building new trade corridors with reliable partners.”

He adds that earlier this week, he spoke with leadership of these ‘reliable partners’ such as Mexico, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and the European Commission, who he assures all oppose the American approach.

Immediately following the federal election on April 28th, Carney says the new Canadian Prime Minister and Donald Trump will sit down to find areas of common ground and renew their economic and security partnership.