Pierre Poilievre said Canada has ten of the twelve minerals NATO defines as necessary to fight a war, and used that as his argument for a North American trade bloc rather than a trade war.
Canada's retaliatory tariff on $20 billion of American goods took effect on Tuesday and the White House answered with a sweeping import ban. Poilievre, the leader of the opposition, came on American television and declined to blame his own prime minister for any of it.
"Well, look, I'm not going to attack my prime minister on foreign soil."
Poilievre leads the Conservative Party of Canada and is the country's official opposition leader, which makes his refusal to criticize Mark Carney abroad a deliberate position rather than a courtesy.
I listened to the full segment so you can skip it.
Here are the 5 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the country's opposition leader
🎙️ Hosts: the anchors of CNBC's Squawk Box
📰 Published: 10 September 2026 on CNBC's Squawk Pod
🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 9 min
Key Takeaways
Canada holds ten of the twelve minerals NATO defines as necessary to fight a war, which is Poilievre's case for a North American bloc
He also claims fourth place in oil reserves, fifth in natural gas production, third in uranium and first in potash
He will not criticize Mark Carney outside Canada, and told the hosts to read the House of Commons debates instead
His fix for Canadian growth is tax and permitting, not tariffs
He would scrap capital gains tax entirely when an investor rolls the proceeds back into Canada
He says Canadians feel wounded and confused, but that a realignment toward China is not what anyone is proposing
The single asset he wants to use in Washington is American public opinion rather than retaliation
1. Back to Tariff-Free Trade
His answer to how this ends is a return to where it started. Poilievre said what needs to happen is a return to tariff-free trade in both directions, and reached for the history: "We have the most successful binational relationship in the history of the world, the longest undefended border." He said the 40-year free trade agreement worked, enriched both countries, lowered costs for workers and strengthened North America.
He said Canadians never understood why they became a target of American tariffs in the first place, and that the escalation followed from that. "But Canadians are united in our mission to fight the tariffs and get back to a trade relationship that makes us both better off."
The lever he wants to pull is American public opinion. "And what I think we need to do now is leverage the single biggest asset Canada has in the U.S. Which is our friendship with the American people, who overwhelmingly love Canada." His pitch to that audience was economic: "we can save money and jobs for both our people if we get back to two way tariff free trade, that will bring down the cost of living for Americans. It will grow paycheck on both sides of the border."
On the substance of American grievances he conceded some ground and then listed Canada's own. Asked whether there were inequities that needed dealing with, he said trade had not been entirely free "in certain in certain respects," and pointed to Buy America rules that he said kept Canadian suppliers out of state and local procurement, and to American tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. "So we both have our grievances. But the bottom line is, let's sit down and work them out for the mutual benefit of our people."
He tied the trade position to the ideology. "I mean, if we believe in free markets, then we have to believe in free trade."
2. Politics Ends at the Border
Asked twice whether Carney negotiated in good faith — with the hosts noting that Howard Lutnick and the Trump administration had said he did not — Poilievre refused both times. "Well, look, I'm not going to attack my prime minister on foreign soil." Pressed on whether he would attack him at home, he said: "Well, you can look up the debates in the House of Commons," and then, on the job title: "Opposition leader. That's what the word means."
He put the blame on the American side without making it partisan. "Well, look, let's be honest, the administration hit us with tariffs first and everything escalated thereafter. And my mission here is to fight for my country, not to score political points domestically. Politics ends at the border."
One of the hosts praised him for it on air, contrasting his restraint with an American opposition party that he said goes abroad and attacks Donald Trump daily.
3. Why Canada Isn't Rich Yet
The hosts put their own statistic to him, saying Canada's growth in GDP per person has been dead last out of 38 countries and is forecast to stay last for the next ten and twenty years, and that Poilievre had explained it to them off camera as population growth outpacing GDP growth. They also said he had told them Canada should be the richest country in the world.
He answered the dead-last framing by naming what does work first. "In my home province, in my district, for example, we have some of the fastest permits at a local level in the world. That's why, for example, in Hardisty, Alberta, we have $100 billion tank farm that moves oil to all across the united states of america."
Then the resource inventory behind his claim. "First of all we can be the richest country in the world. We have the longest oceanic coastline. We're fourth in oil reserves, fifth as a natural gas producer, third in uranium, first in potash. We have the fifth biggest supply of farmland anywhere in the world per capita."
His remedy is domestic policy rather than trade. "What we need to do is unleash free enterprise by cutting taxes on work investment, home building and investment. We need also to have the fastest permits anywhere in the world." On capital, he named a specific measure: "I proposed getting rid of capital gains tax. Whenever an investor rolls over their investment back into Canada." He said he is discussing all of it with the prime minister, whose mission he said is also to bring investment back.
4. Wounded, Not Realigning
Asked how Canadians feel about America now, he described injury rather than anger. "Look, I think we feel a little bit wounded. We're kind of confused as to how it is suddenly that Canada ended up in the crosshairs."
His frame for the relationship is the Cold War alliance. "I think that it would be in america's interest to rebuild the western alliance of free nations that helped Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher win the cold war." The United States, he said, would be better off united with countries that believe in free speech, free markets, free trade and free people.
On the suggestion that Canada might turn toward China, he was flat. The hosts asked whether Canadians, given how bullied they feel, want a closer relationship with Beijing despite its human rights record and its treatment of the Uyghurs. "No, it's not. And that's not what we're proposing. What I think we need is a stronger north america."
5. Ten of 12 NATO Minerals
The strategic argument is a resource argument. "Look, we have ten of the 12 NATO defined minerals necessary to fight a war." He said Canada's cobalt supply is sufficient as well, and that leaving those inputs behind a trade barrier does not make sense.
What he wants built out of them is a continental fortress. "We could build an incredible north american fortress with the resources that we have on this continent." He said it takes a collaborative relationship to do it, and that his message to both the administration and the American public is to work together against the risks and rivalries abroad.
Asked whether the damage of the last two years is repairable or merely transactional — with the hosts noting there will be a different president in two years — he declined to forecast. "Well, I'm better, much better at predicting the past than the future. But we wouldn't have predicted that this would have happened in the first place. I think it should be over yesterday, but it will really come down to whether the administration and congress want to get back to tariff free trade." In the meantime, he said, Canada is beginning to diversify its trade further.
Bonus Insights
Poilievre made a point of distinguishing his own two countries framing from continental integration. Twice in the interview he described the goal as a stronger North America built by "our two separate countries," which is how he squares arguing for a continental bloc with leading a party whose voters are wary of exactly that.
Poilievre's bottom line is that Canada's leverage in this fight is American public opinion and Canadian resources rather than retaliation, and that the tariffs should come off in both directions before the two countries start bargaining over the older grievances on either side.
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