Peter Navarro, a longtime adviser for U.S. President Donald Trump, told Canadian lobbyists on Tuesday to “get the hell out” of the U.S. and cautioned Canada against interfering in U.S. midterm elections.
But when speaking with media at a press conference in Vancouver, Prime Minister Mark Carney laughed out loud and said he had “no response” to Navarro’s warning.
The Trump adviser’s comments come after a U.S. ban on certain Canadian imports took effect at midnight. Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order in response to Canada’s retaliatory tariffs following the collapse of trade talks in August.
The ban affects key industries, including alcohol, dairy and motorcycles. The White House justified the measure earlier this month, saying Canada’s restrictions on U.S. alcohol, autos and dairy products put American exporters at a disadvantage.
Key Details:
- Trump adviser tells Canadian lobbyists ‘Get the hell out’
- PM Carney laughs off Navarro’s comments
- U.S. ban on US$1B of Canadian imports in effect
- Trump expects Canada to ask for trade deal
Trump adviser to Canadian lobbyists: ‘Get the hell out’
A longtime Trump adviser sent a stern message to Canadians at a conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
While discussing U.S. national security and U.S. trade, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro was asked about Canada’s role on the topic.
“Do you really want to spend any time on Canada?” Navarro said. “Any Canadians here? Like, please, if you’re on K Street, get the hell out of the country.”
Navarro, one of Trump’s most loyal officials during both his presidential terms, said Canada has had an outsized influence on the U.S. as they prepare for the midterms in November.
“The problem you have is you lobby this country and you’ve been successful in the past and you think you can keep doing that,” Navarro said.
“Memo to Canada: you cannot do that. OK? That game is up. And if you interfere in our elections in Maine or Michigan you will pay even more dearly.”
Hunter Crowther, CTVNews.ca, lead evening producer
Carney laughs when asked to comment on Trump, Navarro
Carney laughed out loud when asked by a reporter about both Trump’s comments made on Monday that he thinks Canada will apologize to the U.S. and Tuesday’s warnings from Navarro.
Asked about the remarks at an event in B.C., Carney shrugged and said: “I take note of both comments, how’s that?” He then added: “No response to either.”
The prime minister instead offered broad comments on the trade relationship with the U.S., saying Canada stands ready to negotiate “in good faith,” a mutually-advantageous trade arrangement “that respects both our countries’ sovereignty.”
Later in the press conference, Carney was asked whether he had ruled out any further escalation of the trade war ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, after Navarro warned Canada not to do so and suggested there would be consequences.
The prime minister said he would “never rule anything out.”“I’ll stand by my earlier comments and the position of the government, which is: look, the reality is that the cost of living is very high in in the United States, and there’s things that Canada can do to help lower that cost of living.”
Carney went on to say that Canada’s timing of any decision “isn’t dictated by any specific aspect of the U.S. calendar.”
Rachel Aiello, CTVNews, national correspondent
Trade war impacting U.S. border states
Navarro’s warning against Canadian lobbyists comes as Americans prepare to go to the polls in November for the midterms, with several key races coming in U.S. states that share a border with Canada.
Many of those states have felt the impact of Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, which went into effect earlier this month. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said residents were “uniquely impacted” by the trade dispute, while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Trump was “needlessly picking fights” with U.S. allies.
U.S. tourism has seen a massive decrease amid the ongoing dispute, even before Trump’s latest escalation. Data from Statistics Canada says in the first quarter of 2026, Canadians made nearly half a million fewer trips to the U.S. and spent $800 million less in the first three months of 2025.
Hunter Crowther, CTVNews.ca, lead evening producer
Workers ‘betrayed’ by Stelco: PM Carney
Speaking to reporters following his announcement, Carney said his thoughts are with the workers and the families “who have been betrayed” by Stelco.
“Let’s put it blank,” he added.
The union representing steelworkers at Stelco Holdings say 350 employees at its Hamilton, Ont. plant will be laid off.
“There’s money on the table from the federal government … and the company made representations and has legal obligations for employment,” Carney said. “We intend to use all powers that we have and pursue them to the full extent of the law.”
“And I would just take note that this situation is caused by the U.S. tariffs and that the owner and CEO, the ultimate owner of Stelco, Cleveland Cliffs, applauded President Trump for putting those tariffs on,” Carney added.
Spencer Van Dyk, CTV News writer and producer
U.S. ban on US$1B of Canadian imports begins
U.S.-Canada relations, already tense, are likely to deteriorate further after the United States went ahead early Tuesday with a decision to ban nearly US$1 billion worth of Canadian imports, including alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motorcycles.
The ban amounts to barely a ripple in $880 billion worth of a two-way annual trade between the two neighbours. But it marks another ratcheting up of U.S. President Donald Trump’s second-term trade war with America’s longtime ally and trading partner.
The import ban “certainly won’t do anything to help the trade tensions between the United States and Canada,’’ said trade attorney Patrick Childress, a partner at Holland & Knight and a former U.S. trade official.
The Associated Press, Read the full article here
LeBlanc promotes barrier-free interprovincial trade
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc says he’ll meet with provincial and territorial counterparts this week to work on the shared goal of ensuring Canadian goods can move freely across the country.
“To be our own best customer, we must be ambitious in ensuring that Canadian goods, services, and workers can move across Canada barrier-free,” he posted to X, hours after the U.S. import ban took effect.
“We have an opportunity to meet the moment by building a more unified and competitive Canadian economy.”
Kayla Thompson, CTV News, journalist
Conservatives call for ‘removing barriers’
In a statement Tuesday, Conservative Canada-U.S. relations critic Shuvaloy Majumdar called Trump’s alcohol, dairy, motorcycles and molasses ban “another unjustified attack on Canadian workers, businesses and producers.”
“President Trump is responsible for these unjustified measures,” he wrote. “At the same time, the Liberals have failed to weather the storm. For months, Prime Minister Carney offered concessions in trade talks and negotiated from a position of weakness rather than strength.
“The Prime Minister had time to develop a plan,” he added. “But instead of making Canada stronger and more competitive, he left Canadian businesses vulnerable to decisions made in Washington.”
Majumdar wrote that the Conservatives are calling on the Liberals to “immediately” support a bill that would allow Canadians to purchase “Canadian beer, wine and spirits from anywhere in the country through Canada Post.”
“If barriers are going up abroad, we should be tearing barriers down at home,” Majumdar wrote, adding the Liberals should also pause the federal alcohol excise tax.
Spencer Van Dyk, CTV News writer and producer
U.S. group ‘Toasts Not Tariffs’ calls on Trump to end war
The U.S.-based group Toasts Not Tariffs, which represents farmers, distillers, retailers, restaurants and bars, said in a statement Tuesday it appreciates the Trump administration’s efforts to encourage Canada to reopen its markets to American spirits and wine.
“However, as this ban on Canadian spirits and wines takes effect today, America’s restaurants, bars, retailers and consumers are being pulled further into a trade dispute that has already taken a significant toll on U.S. wine and spirits producers,” the group said, calling for a negotiated resolution to the dispute that restores sales on both sides of the border.
The Canadian Press
Trump says Canada will ask for trade deal
Just hours before import bans on certain Canadian goods were set to take effect, U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he thinks he can make a trade deal with Canada in the coming weeks.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he thinks the Canadian side will contact him in the next three or four weeks and the United States will “win everything.”
“They’re gonna come in and they’re gonna say, ‘Sir, we are sorry,”’ Trump said. “They’ve treated the United States very, very badly. I think a deal will be made but it’s gonna be fair.”
The Canadian Press, Read the full article here
GDP cooled off ahead of U.S. import ban: StatCan
Economic growth in Canada cooled off ahead of the latest round of U.S. tariffs this summer, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
The agency said real gross domestic product (GDP) was essentially unchanged in July. Strength in construction and utilities that month was offset by declines elsewhere in the economy.
StatCan expects the economy picked back up with a gain of 0.2 per cent in August, but those early figures will be revised next month. The August GDP figures will partially capture the impact of new 50 per cent U.S. tariffs applied on a range of Canadian goods starting Aug. 22.
TD Bank economist Marc Ercolao said he expects August’s GDP figures will also get a boost from the latest trade swings. Some U.S. importers were likely rushing to get ahead of new tariffs on Canadian goods early in the month, but that lift will reverse come September.
The Canadian Press, Read the full article here
Canada’s economy was vulnerable before Trump: analyst
Amid the increasingly bitter trade war between Canada and the U.S., a business analyst argues that recent American trade policy changes did not create the issues plaguing the Canadian economy, they have simply exposed long-standing flaws.
“We created a series of policies that made us weaker as an economy,” Ian Lee, business analyst and professor at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, told CTV News Channel on Tuesday.
“(Donald) Trump did not create our weaknesses; they existed long before Trump was (U.S.) president. What he did was he maliciously and savagely exploited our weaknesses, which is what we are living through now.”
Lee said that while certain individual sectors within Canada’s economy may be able to absorb the nominal impact of U.S. tariffs, the cumulative effect of the levies on businesses and consumers will be significant.
The trade war will also continue to weigh on overall confidence, Lee said, something harder to measure in the short term.
“I think the impact is more indirect. It’s driving down confidence… it’s disrupting supply chains, it’s disrupting the customer relationships,” he said.
“So, it’s not the tariff per se that is causing the damage, it’s the undermining of business confidence and traditional relationships that have been on going on for decades.”
Jordan Fleguel, journalist, CTVNews.ca
Trump is ‘alienating’ Canada: analyst
CTV News U.S. political analyst Eric Ham said the way that Trump speaks of China, a one-party state, “makes clear where the president stands,” considering it’s the only other country aside from Canada that retaliated against the U.S.
“The United States is now alienating and isolating its most closest and ardent ally and trading partner, while authoritarian nations seem to actually have Donald Trump’s ear as well as his affinity and affection,” he told CTV News Channel on Tuesday.
With new tariffs going into affect, Ham said that he suspects the trade war between Canada and the U.S. won’t end any time soon.
“The president is hoping that this will somehow force Canada to actually agree to something that will give up much of their sovereignty and independence, and what we’re seeing here is Canada continues to dig in,” he said.
Ham added that no matter who wins in the midterm elections, the trade war could pit the White House against Congress, with Congress seeking to take back some trade authorities, which could leave Canada out in the cold.
Elianna Lev, CTVNews.ca, journalist
Trump announces new $15B steel plant
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced a new US$15 billion steel plant being built in Iowa, highlighting an economic victory in a key battleground state where Republicans face competitive midterm races.
Trump announced the new plant at an Oval Office event alongside steel executives and Iowa Republicans, including two running for office. The event highlighted Iowa’s elevated status for Republicans and for Trump, who on Monday pledged to campaign there in coming weeks.
“We’re going to do a great rally. We’ll all be there together,” Trump said alongside Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who is up for re-election. Also joining him were Gov. Kim Reynolds and Sen. Joni Ernst, who are not seeking new terms in office.
The new steel plant is being built by Mesabi Metallics, a Minnesota company owned by India’s Essar Group, an industrial conglomerate. Trump said the project will become the largest steel plant in the United States. It is expected to produce 10 million tons of steel a year after it’s fully built out.
The Associated Press
350 steelworkers laid off at Ontario plant
The union representing steelworkers at Stelco Holdings Inc. has confirmed to CTV News that 350 employees at its plant in Hamilton, Ont. will be laid off.
United Steelworkers Local 1005 verified the planned layoffs on Monday afternoon but did not provide any further details.
Stelco declined an interview but in a statement to BNN a spokesperson said its Hamilton Works facility is currently idling its finishing operations while continuing to concentrate steel production in Lake Erie.
“Very importantly, job opportunities at Lake Erie Works will be offered to Hamilton employees. We expect that a significant number of employees affected by the indefinite idle at Hamilton should be absorbed at Lake Erie Works,” a spokesperson wrote in an email.
Stelco also said the amount of steel they produce will not be impacted by the Hamilton plant’s idling, though there will be a “change in product mix, with a higher concentration of hot rolled steel products.”
Alex Arsenych and Joanna Lavoie, CTV News & CP24, journalist
