OTTAWA — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Wednesday it’s “sad” that the U.S. “turned its back” on Canada by starting a trade war that is now forcing Ottawa to “reinvent” the national economy.
Champagne also said “a lot of the costs” the country must carry in the upcoming federal budget are “directly related to the trade war that has been imposed on Canada.”
“It is sad, I would say, that our largest trading partner turned its back on Canada, which has led to us having to reassess how we’re going to build the economy of the future,” Champagne told reporters after the Liberals’ Wednesday caucus meeting.
“Canada’s always been at the centre of this industrial landscape that you have in North America, but obviously when someone turns its back, you have to find ways to strengthen the Canadian economy and look at new markets, look at new industries.”
His comments came after U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said the Trump administration had hoped to reach a “much bigger” deal with Canada that would go beyond renegotiating the current free trade pact.
“The Americans were hopeful that we could negotiate a bigger deal,” Hoekstra said at an event put on by the Canadian International Council in Ottawa on Tuesday evening.
Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are inching toward a major review of the trilateral Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement due next year, with preparations for the talks taking place behind the scenes.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has said he’s hoping to reach smaller sectoral deals with U.S. President Donald Trump to de-escalate the ongoing trade war, and to draft a new economic and security partnership.
But Hoekstra said the White House was hoping Canada would “not just renegotiate CUSMA” and wanted to see it turned into “something much bigger” by expanding the relationship in areas such as defence, automotive and energy.
“It’s obvious, at least at this point in time, that that’s not going to happen,” Hoekstra said.
The ambassador did not explain what he meant or identify what he thinks is preventing such a deal.
But he did take issue with the “elbows up” theme of the spring election and the popular backlash across the country to Trump’s trade war against Canada.
“Much of that messaging is continuing of, ‘We’ve got to be tough against the Americans, we’re not going to buy F-35s, we’re going to ban your alcohol, we’re going to tell our people not to travel to the United States, we don’t want your data, we don’t your information technology,'” Hoekstra said.
“All of these types of things, I’m sorry, but that’s what we see. That doesn’t tell me that Canada is passionate about this relationship in the same way that we are.”
On Wednesday, a group of U.S. senators moved to block tariffs targeting Canada.
Democrats Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, Amy Klobuchar and Chuck Schumer joined Republican Rand Paul in filing a joint resolution to force a vote on Trump’s use of the International Economic Emergency Powers Act, also called IEEPA, to declare an emergency over fentanyl trafficking to hit Canada with devastating duties.
U.S. government data shows only a minuscule volume of fentanyl is seized at the Canada-U.S. border compared to the border with Mexico.
“It is time to end President Trump’s senseless trade war with Canada, one of our closest allies and top trading partners,” Kaine said in a news release.
“The American people overwhelmingly oppose it and it has already done lasting damage to the bilateral relationship, which can be seen in declines in Canadian tourism to the United States and declining sales of American products in Canada.”
Legislation to block the tariffs was passed the Senate in a 51-48 vote in April but was not taken up by the House of Representatives.
Paul, a vocal opponent of Trump’s tariffs, said “no president should be able to abuse emergency powers to bypass Congress and unilaterally impose import tariffs — taxes — on the American people.”
“These tariffs hit families, farmers and small businesses the hardest, and in Kentucky they devastate cornerstone industries like car manufacturing, bourbon, homebuilding and shipping,” Paul said in a news release. “Congress must reclaim its constitutional authority and stop this economic overreach before more jobs and industries are destroyed.”
The news release said that since Trump launched his trade war with Canada, exports of U.S. distilled spirits to Canada declined by about 62 per cent, and tourism from Canada to the U.S. fell by 33.9 per cent.
The latest resolution was also co-sponsored by other Democrats as well as Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski.
The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November from states and small businesses challenging Trump’s use of IEEPA to hit Canada and other nations around the world with devastating duties.
The U.S. Trade Representative posted a notice for public consultations this week seeking feedback on the coming CUSMA review, scheduled for July 1, 2026. The USTR also scheduled a public hearing on Nov. 17, 2025.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has warned he believes that Trump will not want to wait and will likely escalate trade pressure this fall.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2025.
— With files from Kelly Geraldine Malone in Washington and Dylan Robertson
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
