I would like to update Canadians on developments in our trade negotiations with the United States, why we are walking away from a bad deal, and what comes next.

For much of our history, Canadians have been able to count on favourable trade conditions: a stable relationship with the United States, increasingly open access to the U.S. market, and rules that both countries understood and respected.

These conditions have not simply shifted – the climate has also changed.

We cannot control the storm blowing in from Washington.

We can chart a new course by building Canada strong at home and diversifying our trading relationships abroad.

We are masters in our own home and the partner of choice abroad.

For over a year, Canada has worked intensively and in good faith with the United States to negotiate a new comprehensive trade deal.

We have been pragmatic, patient, and persistent. We have pursued every opportunity to reach an agreement that protects Canadian workers and their families, that strengthens our economy, and that respects Canadian sovereignty.

We have been under no illusions.

We recognised from the start that America has changed.

Early last year, I observed that the decades-long process of steadily increasing integration between our economies was over.

Our government understood, before many, that America would transform all its commercial relationships. That it would put a series of tariffs on its closest allies and use economic integration as a weapon. That its signature was written in pencil.

We worked in that context. To try to strike a fair deal, on which Canadian businesses and workers could rely.

Our goal has always been to get the best deal for Canadians, never a deal at any price or on any time frame.

Last month, when the U.S. announced another round of unjustified tariffs, I gave our negotiating team a new mandate to seek a fair deal in good faith.

I believe people on the ground on both sides of the border want this relationship to work. The bonds between Canadians and Americans remain strong. A mutually beneficial trade agreement is possible. One that respects our sovereignty. One that builds on our complementary strengths. One that lowers costs for families on both sides of the border. One that creates jobs for our workers.

Canada has always worked toward these goals, even while America’s attention and dedication to them have wavered. We have consistently proposed long-term partnerships, while America has often pursued short-term transactions.

That gap between partnership and competitor has remained too wide in recent days.

Late last evening I instructed our negotiators to return to Ottawa.

We cannot accept what they have offered, and we will not give what they have asked.

Over the past year, the United States has imposed a series of tariffs that violate its commitments under our agreement with them and Mexico, CUSMA.

The United States has continually changed their rationale for their actions from fentanyl to:

• Taxes on U.S. tech giants.
• The certification of U.S. aircraft.
• The sharing of tolls of a bridge that Canada built and paid for.
• Our dairy policy.
• Provincial decisions to not sell American alcohol during a trade war.
• A television advertisement that quoted Ronald Reagan.
• Smoke from our wildfires while they threatened our communities.

Another prominent justification for U.S. tariffs has been their claim that, since the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada, we were “ripping them off”.

But the United States’ narrow merchandise trade deficit only exists because the U.S. buys so much of its energy from us.

Canada fuels American growth: supplying 99% of their natural gas imports, 85% of electricity imports, and 60% of crude oil imports. I don’t think they want us to stop sending it.

And the comprehensive U.S.-Canada trade balance, which includes the many services – from finance to entertainment – that we buy from the U.S. shows a persistent American trade surplus.

Most fundamentally, trade is about building mutual strength – creating a relationship that benefits both countries.

For example, Canada is the largest customer for U.S. cars – in fact, we buy more American-built cars than the United Kingdom, Japan, and China combined.

It’s the same for American steel products.

Canada is the largest customer for 26 U.S. states, and a top three customer for 45 U.S. states.

Last year, Americans sold almost $600 billion in goods and services to Canadians – more than $1.6 billion every single day.

Canadian exports to the U.S. lower the costs for American families. In contrast, tariffs are taxes, taxes which are ultimately paid by U.S. consumers.

While the U.S. has imposed a seemingly endless stream of tariffs and threatened more, Canada has, by contrast, taken several steps in good faith to find compromise and secure a comprehensive deal in the best interest of Canadians and Americans.

Our negotiators sought not only to reduce tariffs, but also to restore a degree of certainty and stability – through a new, comprehensive agreement that Canadian businesses and workers could rely on.

Which brings me to the latest round of negotiations.

Last month, the U.S. announced that, effective August 19, it would impose 50% tariffs on a series of industries ranging from hockey equipment to clothing, cement, and beer. The only advantage of this latest threat was that it was a catalyst for more intensive negotiations.

Our objectives in these latest talks have been to:

• Preserve tariff-free access to the U.S. for the vast majority of Canadian business.
• Provide greater stability to our trade relationship.
• Significantly reduce U.S. tariffs on our key strategic industries, so that Canadian businesses in these sectors would have the best access of any in the world.
• Protect our small and medium-sized businesses, including by removing the imminent threat of new tariffs.
• Maintain Canada’s flexibility, independence, and sovereignty so we can keep building the country Canadians want.

Canada has made offers to secure a fair, comprehensive deal that would be in the best interest of Canadians.

We were willing to drop our remaining retaliatory tariffs on strategic sectors – particularly steel, aluminum, and autos – if the United States substantially lowered theirs to levels that made it economic for Canadian companies to export to the U.S. In exchange for a fair deal, we would encourage the provinces to return U.S. alcohol to the shelves. And we would take administrative measures to protect supply management without changing the system itself, the U.S. quotas, or the tariffs that would apply.

We were not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries.

We were not prepared to compromise on the protection of the French language and our culture.

To our American colleagues, let’s be clear: for my government and for Canada, these issues were never on the table, even though the United States tried until the very last minute.

In recent weeks, we made important progress toward a possible agreement that would have reinforced Canada’s position as having the best deal in the world with the U.S., including by securing the best terms in each of Canada’s most important strategic sectors and providing greater certainty about our future trading relationship.

While we believed, earlier this week, that we were moving toward a mutually beneficial agreement, in recent days, the U.S. proposed new terms that were uneconomic, unfair, and undermined the net benefits to Canada, calling into question the reliability of any deal.

In short, they asked too much and offered too little.

More fundamentally, the cumulative effect of U.S. demands revealed the limits of their commitment to a true economic partnership. As a result, last evening, I suspended trade negotiations with the U.S. and directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa. They worked hard, in good faith, to the last minute to defend the interests of Canadians.

Canada will match Washington’s new tariffs dollar for dollar in order to protect Canadian workers, farmers, families, and businesses.

They will be concentrated in sectors such as steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics. This will also include products currently subject to the unjustified Section 232 and 338 tariffs. This is a focused response to protect and defend our industries and allow them to compete with U.S. products in the Canadian market.

In the coming days, we will release the details of these new tariff measures, which will come into force the Tuesday after Labour Day.

We take this step reluctantly. Reluctantly, because we recognise that it will raise costs and reduce choice for Canadians. Reluctantly, because we recognise that some U.S. companies and states are innocent bystanders in a dispute they did not want. Reluctantly, because this trade dispute is preventing Canada and America from doing so much good that we could do together.

At the same time, we take this step confident that it is in the best interests of Canada. And that, by rejecting a bad deal, standing up for Canada, and focusing on what we can control, we will build Canada strong for all.

Building at home and diversifying trade abroad is not our Plan B.

It has been our Plan A from the start.

Canada will continue to pursue this path to build Canada strong, because it is right and it is working.

We are moving rapidly to build major infrastructure.

We have already referred 27 nation-building initiatives to the new Major Projects Office – new ports, mines, and energy corridors from every region of the country that now represent $500 billion in new private investment. Projects that will help Canada build bigger, move faster, and trade more with the world.

Through Build Canada Homes, we are building affordable homes faster. In just a few months, this new agency has already committed to building nearly 17,000 units through 17 partnerships.

We are building the local infrastructure that Canadians rely on every day with the new $51-billion Build Communities Strong Fund. More than 100 projects have already been announced across the country – including new hospitals, community centres, and public transit lines – as part of agreements with the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario, and Québec.

We will also double the capacity of our electricity grid by 2050, so that Canadians have access to affordable and sustainable energy for generations to come. Because controlling our energy means controlling our destiny.

Last Monday, in St. John’s, the governments of Canada, Québec, and Newfoundland and Labrador launched the largest single investment in Canada’s history to build the largest clean energy project in North America ever. A second James Bay.

It will produce enough clean electricity to power every vehicle in Canada.

We are building our economy while taking charge of our security by investing half a trillion dollars into our defence, expanding our shipyards, growing our aerospace industry, and increasing our cyber capabilities.

We are realising Canada’s full potential as an energy superpower, in nuclear, LNG, renewables, and low-carbon oil and gas.

These are the initiatives that are the future of our country.

Canada is now the best-connected economy in the world.

Over the last year, we have signed more than 20 trade and security deals across five continents. We completed our most recent deal, with the UAE, in a record 47 days.

Canadian businesses now enjoy tariff-free access to 1.5 billion consumers.

Over the next six months, we will double that number through new trade deals, from ASEAN to India.

This fall, we will begin discussions with the European Union – the world’s second-largest economy – to build a much stronger and deeper security and economic partnership.

Canada is building such unparalleled market access because we are trusted, because we are reliable, and because we have what the world wants.

That’s why the world is coming to our door.

In three weeks, we will host the first Canadian Investment Summit in Toronto.

The Summit is attracting the world’s largest investors, who collectively manage over $100 trillion in assets.

They will find a Canadian economy that has never been more connected or more ambitious.

We are cutting taxes, putting down barriers, and accelerating our efforts to transform our economy.

We reduced the tax rate on new business investment to just 13% – 4.5 percentage points below the United States and roughly half the G7 average.

We are delivering faster, more predictable approvals and investing alongside the private sector.

We are building one Canadian economy. In the last year, we have removed every single federal barrier to internal trade. We’ve made it easier for Canadian workers to take their skills anywhere in the country. We are also working with provinces and territories to tear down the barriers that have divided our economy for generations.

We are making it easier for Canadians to buy Canadian, hire Canadian, and build Canadian.

This fall, in Budget 2026, we will go further to make Canada one of the most competitive and attractive places in the world for businesses and strategic sectors to invest, build, and grow.

The new U.S. tariffs are designed to hurt and divide us.

They are a miscalculation, because Canadians will always take care of each other.

We know we’re stronger together.

In the last year and a half, Canadians have met this moment with resolve, purpose, and strength.

We are vacationing in our national parks. Buying Canadian products. Choosing Canadian.

Small acts of solidarity. Repeated millions of times that make a statement: we are the masters of our destiny.

The government is matching that spirit with $25 billion to protect Canadian workers and businesses hurt by the American tariffs.

We are helping our small and medium-sized businesses respond by investing in equipment, productivity, and supply chain resilience.

We are providing financing to keep large employers operating and retain their workers.

We are helping our hardest-hit industries retool and pivot to international markets.

We are being our own best customer.

We have the right plan to build Canada strong. We are on track and it is working.

At the same time, we recognise that some of the biggest payoffs will take time. That’s why we are also focused on giving Canadians a boost today and a bridge to a better tomorrow.

We have cut taxes on income, on housing, and on gas.

We have introduced the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit. Up to $1,890 per family to help 12 million Canadians get ahead.

We are stronger now than when the United States started this trade war. More unified, more determined, and more ambitious.

With the strongest fiscal position in the G7 and a resilient economy, Canada has all the resources we need to pivot and prosper.

Growth is accelerating, and we are projected to have the second-fastest rate in the G7 this year and next.

We are creating jobs at four times the rate of the United States.

Our non-U.S. exports are up sharply and are on track to double over the next decade.

Foreign direct investment in Canada is at its highest level in two decades, running at twice the rate of our nearest G7 competitor.

Canada now ranks as the most attractive country in the world for infrastructure investment.

Last spring, I warned that America is trying to break us so that they can own us.

And I promised: “That will never, ever happen.”

We are keeping that promise.

Canada is becoming stronger and less dependent on America.

We are already giving ourselves more than they can take away.

And we are just getting started.

Canadians don’t submit to the weather – we thrive in it.

We don’t wait to see which way the wind is blowing.

Or surrender ourselves to the waves to be storm-tossed by events.

We set our own course.

We make our own weather.

In Canada, we are masters in our own home, from coast to coast to coast.

Building Canada strong. For all.