Ford predicts Carney will have ‘better’ relationship with Trump than Trudeau did

The Ontario premier is gearing up for a critical meeting in Washington Thursday with the U.S. Secretary of Commerce.

As the trade war between Canada and the U.S. escalates, Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he believes prime minister-designate Mark Carney will have a “better relationship” with U.S. President Donald Trump than Justin Trudeau.

“It’s going to be a better relationship than with Prime Minister Trudeau, and no disrespect to Prime Minister Trudeau,” Ford said to reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

“I can tell you one thing. Mark Carney’s an extremely astute business mind. He understands numbers, and so does President Trump and (U.S. Commerce) Secretary Lutnick.”

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Carney won the Liberal leadership on Sunday but has yet to be officially sworn in as prime minister.

During Trump’s first term in office, he and Trudeau clashed over trade and tariffs while the North American Free Trade Agreement was being renegotiated. And since Trump’s latest election win in November, he has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and spoken disparagingly of Trudeau, often referring to him as “governor.”

Asked by reporters at Queen’s Park why he thinks Carney “can smooth things with Trump,” Ford said “they both come from the same financial sectors.”

Ford and Carney had breakfast in Etobicoke, Ont. on Wednesday morning, during which Trump and his tariff threats were discussed.

In a post on X, Carney spoke about the meeting, writing: “We’ve got a big fight ahead of us, and we’ll be working together every step of the way. We’re strongest when we’re united.”

Appearing at a steel plant in Hamilton, Ont. afterwards, Carney said he’s open to meeting with Trump when the time is right.

“I’m ready to sit down with President Trump at the appropriate time, under a position where there’s respect for Canadian sovereignty, and we’re working for a common approach, a much more comprehensive approach for trade,” Carney said.

Ford, federal ministers heading to Washington, D.C. Thursday

On Thursday, Ford will be travelling to Washington, D.C. – along with federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne – to meet with Lutnick and other officials from the Trump administration.

“There’s going to be conversations about tariffs and as we move forward, we’re going to ask them, let’s move this (United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement) deal up as quickly as possible to give certainty to the world, not just Canada and the U.S., but the entire world,” Ford said. “So that’s what we look forward to doing.”

This latest meeting comes amid another trade escalation between the two countries. On Wednesday, Canada levelled reciprocal dollar-for-dollar tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum imports, in response to Trump’s 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports that came into effect today.

The federal government’s countermeasures will come into effect at 12:01 a.m. on March 13. The 25 per cent tariffs will hit steel products worth $12.6 billion and aluminum products worth $3 billion.

In addition, Canada is hitting another $14.2 billion worth of imported U.S. goods with fresh tariffs, totalling $29.8 billion in retaliation.

“We don’t want to do this because we believe in open borders and free and fair trade,” Carney said on the new countermeasures. “But we’re doing this in response,” adding “proceeds from our tariffs (will) go back to support workers in the affected industry.”

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello