Prime Minister Mark Carney is putting Canada in a “position of weakness” by making a string of concessions before entering serious negotiations with the Americans, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Thursday.

He told reporters in St. John’s, N.L., that Carney was squandering Canada’s leverage in talks by pre-emptively agreeing to demands from the U.S. to drastically increase spending on the military, reducing some counter-tariffs and repealing the digital services tax and promised fees on streaming providers.

“I don’t understand the strategy of making concession after concession after concession before even getting to the negotiating table,” Poilievre said

“Many of these things were going to have to happen, but why not bring them to the to the bargaining table and get something in return for them, rather than making every concession and then showing up empty-handed and in a position of weakness when we bargain?”

U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose 50 per cent tariffs on a swath of Canadians goods on Aug. 19, after months of limited progress on reaching a new trade deal between the two countries.

In the wake of the announcement last month, Carney said he spoke with the president and the two agreed to ramp up negotiations ahead of the latest deadline.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Canada’s chief negotiator Janice Charette are in Washington, D.C. this week to meet with American officials. The two met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer last week.

Poilievre urged Carney to leverage Canada’s military purchases and natural resources in the latest talks in exchange for the Americans dropping devastating sectoral tariffs on steel, aluminium, lumber and autos.

“They must get rid of those tariffs, and then we can work with them to consider their demands in return, but not but no more unilateral concessions before getting to the bargaining table. That has failed.”

During a press conference on Wednesday, Carney pushed back at suggestions that his government should change its strategy or adopt a tougher stance toward the Trump administration.

He said Canada’s tone toward the United States is already “quite firm” and insisted trade negotiations with Washington remain “constructive.”

“We have time. We have real negotiations, constructive negotiations on several issues,” he told reporters in Toronto..

The new tariffs Trump has threatened would apply at a rate of 50 per cent on a broad range of Canadian goods. Unlike previous measures, they would not exempt products that comply with the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA.

The White House has said the latest round of tariffs is a response to provincial restrictions on alcohol, Canada’s supply management system for dairy products and certain automotive quotas.

The tariff dispute launched by the U.S. president has now lasted for more than a year.

In early July, Washington announced it would not renew CUSMA in its current form, as Canada and Mexico had hoped. Instead, the United States triggered an unprecedented annual review process.

with files from the Canadian Press