Trump says it’s a ‘good thing’ Carney signed a deal with China

While President Donald Trump said Friday it’s a “good thing” that Prime Minister Mark Carney has signed a trade deal with China, his trade czar cautioned that Canada could regret the decision.

When asked about the deal by reporters as he left the White House Friday, Trump said, “That’s OK.”

“That’s what he should be doing. It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal,” he said. “If you can get a deal with China, you should do that.”

Canada announced a deal with Beijing earlier Friday to slash tariffs on a set number of Chinese electric vehicles in exchange for China cutting duties on agricultural products, including canola.

It marks a major break from the United States as Ottawa confronts the effects of massive U.S. tariffs that are rattling Canadian industries.

The U.S. has imposed 35 per cent economy-wide tariffs on Canada, but those duties do not apply to goods compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement on trade, known as CUSMA. Trump also implemented separate sector-specific tariffs on industries like steel, aluminum, copper, lumber and cabinets.

In 2024, Ottawa took action against Chinese EVs to stay in lockstep with the United States, but Carney has said Canada urgently needs to diversify its trade.

“It’s a partnership that reflects the world as it is today, with an engagement that is realistic, respectful and interest-based,” Carney said at a news conference in Beijing.

Trump himself has expressed an openness to Chinese investment in automobiles as long as companies build in the United States.

Others in the president’s orbit expressed skepticism about Canada’s outreach to China.

Chris LaCivita, a senior adviser to Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, posted on social media that it was “asinine … the current Prime Minister of Canada advocating a strategic partnership with communist China.”

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Friday that it was “problematic for Canada” and said tariffs protect American autoworkers from Chinese vehicle manufacturers.

“I think in the long run they are not going to like having made that deal,” he said.

He added that Canada’s dependence on trade with the United States means the U.S. will always “have an outsized role on that economy.”