Leading Canadian conservative says Ottawa should remove all tariffs as 'Liberation Day' arrives

OTTAWA - As Canadians brace themselves for President Donald Trump’s "Liberation Day" of reciprocal tariffs connected Wednesday, 1 governmental person successful Canada believes it could spark the commencement of a caller epoch of Canada-U.S. relations escaped of cross-border taxes.

Maxime Bernier, who served arsenic overseas affairs curate successful erstwhile Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative authorities and present heads the right-wing People’s Party of Canada (PPC), told Fox News Digital successful an interrogation from Halifax that it is "absolutely" the clip for Canada to region each tariffs against the U.S.

He said the 25% duties the Canadian government, nether then-Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, imposed connected the U.S. successful aboriginal February to antagonistic Trump’s 25% tariffs against Canada "won’t wounded the Americans – it is hurting Canadians."

New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said successful a statement pursuing his March 28 telephone with the president – the archetypal interaction betwixt some leaders since Carney was elected Liberal person by his enactment astir 3 weeks earlier – that Canada would instrumentality retaliatory tariffs successful effect to Wednesday's U.S. "trade actions."

TRUMP'S 11TH WEEK IN OFFICE SET TO FOCUS ON TARIFFS AS PRESIDENT TOUTS 'LIBERATION DAY'

President Donald Trump, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. (Getty Images)

The PPC person said that Trump should beryllium told that "the existent reciprocal response" to tariffs is "zero connected our side, zero connected your side."

Bernier said that instead, Carney and his main rival, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, are being "fake patriots utilizing a dollar-for-dollar commercialized warfare against Trump" and telling Canadians: "That’s the champion happening to do."

"We cannot enforce counter-tariffs," said Bernier, who besides served arsenic manufacture curate successful the Harper government. 

"The Americans are 10 times bigger than us. We won’t triumph a commercialized war," helium said, underscoring that retaliation volition pb to a recession successful Canada.

Former Canadian Conservative person Tony Clement, who served alongside Bernier successful Harper’s Cabinet, told Fox News Digital that "from an economical constituent of view," removing Canadian tariffs "makes a batch of sense" and "may travel to that astatine immoderate point, but the nationalist isn’t determination close now."

"From a constituent of presumption of the affectional wounds of Canadians created by Trump and his annexation speech and tariffs, I’m not definite that a governmental dependable would past if it went down that public-policy route," said Clement, a erstwhile Canadian manufacture curate successful the Harper government.

Maxime Bernier, person of the People's Party of Canada, meets with his supporters astatine an predetermination rally successful Borden Park connected Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021 successful Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"The temper of the radical is outrage. I’ve ne'er seen radical successful Canada this incandescently huffy astatine the United States," helium said, who is campaigning successful the Toronto country for Poilievre's Conservative Party up of the April 28 wide election. "There is implicit distrust of immoderate Trump says due to the fact that it tin alteration wrong 24 hours."

He said that some Poilievre and Carney person highlighted the value of removing "the specter of tariffs for a agelong play of clip – if you tin spot Trump to beryllium a bona fide negotiator."

Eliminating Canadian tariffs, without a quid pro quo from Trump, could "show weakness to a bully," added Clement, who, anterior to entering national authorities successful 2006, served arsenic a Cabinet curate successful erstwhile Ontario Premier Mike Harris’ Progressive Conservative government.  

MARK CARNEY WINS LIBERAL PARTY NOMINATION TO REPLACE TRUDEAU AS CANADA'S NEXT PM

Canadians clasp an "Elbows Up" protestation against U.S. tariffs and different policies by U.S. President Donald Trump, astatine Nathan Phillips Square successful Toronto connected March 22, 2025. (REUTERS/Carlos Osorio)

In the connection released pursuing his caller speech with Trump, Carney said that some leaders "agreed to statesman broad negotiations astir a caller economical and information narration instantly pursuing the election." 

Conservative strategist Yaroslav Baran, who served arsenic communications main for Harper’s palmy Conservative 2004 enactment campaign, and manager of warfare country communications for the Harper-led Tories during the 2004, 2006 and 2008 national predetermination campaigns, told Fox News Digital that nether the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), "trade successful goods and services ought to beryllium tariff-free" betwixt Canada and the U.S., excluding carveouts connected the Canadian broadside for dairy, eggs, poultry and softwood lumber. 

However, Baran added that helium "can’t spot the removal of each Canadian tariffs connected U.S. products arsenic agelong arsenic the U.S. has tariffs connected Canadian products."

Vehicles successful enactment to transverse into the United States astatine the Canada-U.S. borderline successful St-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Quebec, Canada, connected Thursday, March 6, 2025. President Donald Trump exempted Canadian goods covered by the USMCA from his 25% tariffs, offering large reprieves to the U.S.' 2 largest trading partners. (Graham Hughes/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Bernier acknowledged that portion Trump’s tariffs volition wounded Canadian exporters to the U.S., "the solution is to person a much productive system with existent free-market reforms" successful Canada done specified measures arsenic lowering firm taxes, promoting interior commercialized and fostering maturation successful the country’s lipid and state industry, each of which are featured successful the PPC’s election level that includes the constitution of a "Department of Government Downsizing" to abolish "ideologically motivated programs that beforehand wokeism," not dissimilar the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency.

The PPC person besides said that Canada should beryllium consenting to "put everything connected the table" nether the USMCA "right now" and earlier the trilateral commercialized woody is scheduled for a associated reappraisal adjacent year.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

According to Bernier, that should see ending the "cartel" of proviso absorption that sets quotas and prices, and protects Canada’s dairy, poultry and eggs sectors from overseas competition, which helium described arsenic "a communist system" that finds Canadians paying doubly the terms of those cultivation products than Americans bash successful the U.S., and which besides imposes duties – ranging from 150% to 300% -- connected U.S. imports of the aforesaid products beyond limits agreed to but yet to beryllium reached nether the USMCA. 

During the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement successful 2018 that led to the USMCA, the archetypal Trump medication sought to person Canada’s proviso absorption strategy eliminated.