Stephen Harper said Mark Carney had ‘no choice’ but to walk away from U.S. trade deal - Toronto Star

Harper said another chance for Canada to become a global energy superpower is at hand, after a decade where that possibility was thwarted by policy decisions.

Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper speaks during the Canada Investment Summit in Toronto on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. 

OTTAWA — Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper says Canada had “no choice” but to walk away from a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump and believes that Canadians support paying whatever it costs to lessen the country’s reliance on its closest neighbour. 

Without mentioning him by name, Harper offered his endorsement of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to suspend talks with the U.S., while delivering the closing remarks at a two-day summit, which the prime minister organized to try to drum up billions of dollars’ worth of new foreign investment into Canada. 

Harper, who also attended the event as board chair of the Alberta Investment Management Corporation, said as a former prime minister he “cannot help but address the current situation that Canada faces.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper says the federal government had no choice but to walk away from trade talks with the United States. While delivering closing remarks at Canada's first-ever national investment summit, Harper said the move was necessary and that Canada needs to reduce its reliance on the United States. (Sept. 15, 2026)

“It is a situation in which, given the ongoing violations of our trade agreement by the United States and the current impasse in negotiations, our country felt compelled to walk away and to see a trade war commence in earnest,” he told the crowd. 

Harper added in French that he believes it must have been “a very difficult decision.

“But I do believe that our government had no choice but to take this path. I say that as one who has long been and known to be a great admirer of America, and one who believes that our close proximity and close relationship to the United States has been among this country’s most precious assets.”