Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, visited New York on Thursday to discuss trade relations with the United States on CNBC. He emphasized unity among Canadians in addressing U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and advocated for stronger collaboration between Canada and the U.S., particularly against global competitors. When questioned about recent failed negotiations and internal criticism within his party, Poilievre defended Prime Minister Mark Carney’s actions and focused on maintaining positive relationships to resolve disputes.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-15,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada's Conservatives, visited New York City on Thursday to advocate for closer ties with the United States, emphasizing the need to work together against common rivals abroad while addressing trade disputes. During an interview with CNBC, he stated that Canadians are united in their stance against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and highlighted the importance of Canada-U.S. cooperation without attacking his own prime minister, Mark Carney, on foreign soil. Poilievre also discussed free enterprise and reducing government interference but did not address opening protected industries such as dairy or telecommunications to genuine competition, a point raised by Rupa Subramanya in The Free Press. Despite his advocacy for trade freedom, Poilievre maintains support for certain elements of Canada's economic model that restrict foreign ownership.
Written for “Canada Us Relations” on 2026-09-17,
grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.35, but all 2 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph
rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 10513: attributed speech only · logged 2026-09-15
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told an American TV audience Thursday that Canadians are united in their mission to fight U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
asserted
Canadians → tell → tariffs
In an interview with CNBC, Poilievre pitched a stronger North America and said he wants Canada and the U.S. to work together to confront rivals abroad.
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Canada → pitch → rivals
“America has legitimate grievances with other countries around the world, and those rivals and risks are slowly mounting,” he said.
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he → have → world
CNBC’s hosts asked Poilievre if he believes Prime Minister Mark Carney was “acting in good faith” in the latest round of trade negotiations, which ended on Aug. 22 when Canada walked away from the table.
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Canada → ask → table
Since then, Trump and several top administration officials have claimed Canada introduced last-minute demands that made a deal impossible in the hours before a deadline imposed by the president.
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deal → claim → president
Carney told Canadians that his negotiators were “not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries.”
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negotiators → tell → industries
Poilievre told CNBC he would not “attack my prime minister on foreign soil.”
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he → tell → soil
When pressed to allocate blame for the breakdown in talks, he pointed out that America hit Canada with tariffs first “and everything escalated thereafter.”
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everything → press → tariffs
“My mission here is to fight for my country, not to score political points domestically,” he said.
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he → fight → points
Returning to a message he first brought to an American audience in March, when he visited Texas and New York, Poilievre said he believes the long-standing friendships between Canadians and Americans are the strongest tool for ending the trade dispute.
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friendships → return → dispute
When asked how Canadians are feeling about the escalating tariffs, the Tory leader said, “We feel a little bit wounded.
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We → ask → tariffs
We’re kind of confused as to how it is, suddenly, that Canada ended up in the crosshairs.
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Canada → ’re → crosshairs
“We could build an incredible North American fortress with the resources that we have on this continent, but it’s going to take a collaborative, positive relationship to do it,” he said.
uncertain
he → build → it
Poilievre’s positive-sounding message about the Liberal government’s handling of the trade file came on the same day that some members of his caucus were sharing very different takes on social media.
“Mark Carney killed the deal for political gain.
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Carney → sound → gain
Then he lied about it,” Conservative MP Roman Baber posted on X Thursday.
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Baber → lie → X
Jamil Jivani, who has twice travelled to Washington, D.C., to meet with top Trump administration officials – including his longtime friend, Vice-President JD Vance – also weighed in with a video posted on social media.
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who → travel → media
In it, Jivani said the Liberal government is “exploiting a crisis for its political benefit, to act like it’s above accountability and scrutiny,” and claimed it did the same thing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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it → say → pandemic
“And you have people who should be offering an alternative to the Liberals instead going out there to appease people in positions of power,” he said.
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he → have → power
Jivani argued that “we have 11 years of evidence that Liberal policies are failing Canada.”
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policies → argue → Canada
A press release from the Conservative party about the stateside trip said Poilievre would meet with business representatives, “but his main audience is the American people, to whom he will appeal for free trade and co-operation.”
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he → say → trade
The party said he planned also to honour the victims of the 9/11 attacks and highlight the contributions Canadians and Americans made together in the aftermath.
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Canadians → say → aftermath
A spokesperson for Poilievre’s office said he will visit the 9/11 memorial museum Thursday evening.
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he → say → museum
He is not attending the official commemoration ceremony in New York City on Friday, which is not open to the public.
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which → attend → public
The Aporia
