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Canada’s Official Opposition leader launched his trip to the U.S. with a Friday stop in Windsor, Ont., before crossing the border to Detroit to talk about the automotive industry and cross-border trade.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is visiting the Motor City to meet with auto industry leaders and elected representatives to push for an integrated North American auto sector and tariff-free trade that protects Canadian jobs.
He said he plans to return to Windsor on Sunday to release his party’s proposed auto pact, “a plan that will allow both the United States and Canada to grow their domestic production and repatriate our industry to our country so that are people have paychecks and our national industrial base is stronger than ever.”
Those are things, he told reporters Friday morning, that Prime Minister Mark Carney promised a year ago but hasn’t delivered on.
“It would align our regulations with the U.S., it would take the GST off Canadian-made automobiles, and it would make a realistic proposal to eliminate tariffs for the sale of Canadian automobiles in the United States of America,” he said.
While in Michigan, Poilievre says he will be meeting with state politicians and ones from Ohio, along with representatives from Ford and General Motors. He could not secure a meeting with Stellantis due to what he called a “scheduling issue.”
Poilievre’s U.S. visit comes on the heels of his trip to Europe — his first foreign trip as opposition leader — where he promoted free trade and a proposed deal between Commonwealth countries.
That visit came after a major speech in Toronto, where the Tory leader laid out his vision for how Canada should respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
“I think he would like to enhance his profile as a statesman for Canada,” says Julie Simmons, an associate professor of political science at the University of Guelph. “Unfortunately, as the leader of the opposition, those kinds of opportunities are not as plentiful as if you are the prime minister.
“I think he also wants to make a strong case for tariff-free trade with the United States and make sure that he’s on record as supporting that,” she said, “because there has been some question as to the extent to which people who vote for his party, and indeed Mr. Poilievre himself, are sympathetic to some of the positions that Donald Trump has taken.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, speaking in Windsor, Ont., on Friday, criticized Prime Minister Mark Carney for ‘the chaos that we saw unfold today’ after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he would terminate trade talks with Canada, citing an anti-tariff ad paid for by the government of Ontario.
Poilievre will head to Houston, Texas, on Monday to visit an energy facility and meet with executives, the release said. Then, he’ll go to Austin to “meet with state officials, energy, agriculture and business leaders […] to advocate for Canadian energy and trade to the benefit of both our countries.”
He’ll cap off the trip with a “keynote speech on the Canada-US relationship” in New York City on Thursday. He’s not scheduled to visit the U.S. capital.
“Canada can’t control every decision made in Washington and I’ll leave the negotiating up to our government, but we can leverage the goodwill and shared interests with the American people,” he said in a video about the trip.
Al Teshuba, vice president of the Windsor West Conservative riding association, said having the Official Opposition leader add to the chorus of voices advocating for free trade between the U.S. and Canada — especially with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) up for review — will benefit the country.
“They’re absolutely going to love Pierre. He’s articulate, he’s smart, he knows the issues, he makes the case extremely well,” Teshuba said. “And I think this is a great help for Canada. Politics aside […] I think it’s good for Canada that Pierre is advocating our strength in Canada and advocating the need for a win-win trade relationship.”
The trip also comes as Poilievre seeks to regain the political momentum his party enjoyed before Trump took aim at Canada and Prime Minister Mark Carney took the helm of the Liberal party about a year ago. Some Conservatives have argued that the Poilievre’s messaging around the U.S. threat during the 2025 federal election campaign was inadequate.
Since then, Poilievre has hired a new campaign manager and earned overwhelming support at his leadership review. But he’s also dealt with a handful of floor crossings in recent months.
Still, Poilievre’s messaging has proven successful in southwestern Ontario. During last year’s campaign, Poilievre drew thousands to a rally in Windsor, and Conservative candidates went on to sweep the largely blue collar region.
