Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has a message for the United States: the easy days are over. In a video posted Tuesday, Carney said Canada leaned too heavily on its southern neighbor, and that's not a mistake he intends to repeat.

"The past 40 years has been a period of deeper economic integration with the United States," Carney said. "It was easy business, but it meant we relied too much on one economic partner. That time is over."

Carney's comments come as President Donald Trump's trade war pushes Ottawa to accelerate trade and investment with what Carney calls "trusted partners" beyond the U.S. His government's approach, he said, is "development and diversification, not denial." Canada can't just wait for ties with Washington to return to their old footing; it needs to move faster. Carney argued that U.S. demands in failed trade talks showed Washington wanted "dependency, not a true economic partnership."

Canada is backing up those words with action. Retaliatory tariffs took effect Tuesday on C$27.6 billion, or roughly $20 billion, of U.S. imports, after Washington imposed 50% tariffs on an equivalent value of Canadian goods. Ottawa's levies range from 15% to 50% and hit steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics. Carney had pledged to match Washington "dollar for dollar," and he's following through. Canada also announced C$7.5 billion in new and enhanced support for workers and businesses caught in the tariff crossfire.

The economic challenge is still huge. Reuters reported last week that the U.S. still received about 68% of Canadian exports year-to-date through July, down from roughly 73% previously. But there are signs of shift: Canadian exports to the U.S. fell 6.6% in July, while exports to other markets rose 7.4%, according to Statistics Canada data cited by Reuters.

Carney has paired retaliation with diversification. His government has pursued new trade, defence, and critical-mineral partnerships across Europe and Asia, while also expanding domestic procurement and infrastructure. "For the past year and a half, we have been steering our economy toward trusted partners," he said.

The confrontation has moved beyond tariffs. Trump recently threatened Bombardier Inc.'s (OTC: BDRBF) access to the U.S. market and again portrayed Canada as dependent on Washington. Carney fired back: "We can't let American goods into Canada tariff-free while they charge our companies to export to them."

Washington escalated again Tuesday by announcing restrictions on Canadian dairy, alcohol, and motorcycles beginning Sept. 29, while formal trade negotiations remain suspended. The fight shows no signs of cooling, and Canada is clearly betting that its future lies in a more diversified portfolio of partners, not in a single, volatile relationship.