MONTREAL (AFP) — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney reacted with anger Wednesday to United States (US) President Donald Trump’s imposition of import tariffs on cars, branding it a “direct attack” on his country’s workers.

“We will defend our workers. We’ll defend our companies. We’ll defend our country. And we’ll defend it together,” said Carney, who has made standing up to Trump the foundation of his campaign for the 28 April elections.

“This will hurt us, but through this period, by being together, we will emerge stronger,” he said in an address.

“We’ve announced, of course, retaliatory tariffs. We have other options for those retaliatory tariffs,” he said, adding that he had convened a meeting of Canadian officials on Thursday “to discuss our trade options.”

Shortly beforehand, Trump had announced a permanent 25 percent import tariff on all cars and light trucks not made in the US.

About 50 percent of cars sold in the US are manufactured within the country.

Among imports, about half come from Mexico and Canada, which have highly integrated supply chains with US industry under a trilateral free trade agreement.

Trump previously imposed tariffs on the two countries, but had offered automakers a temporary reprieve.

Carney was speaking after a meeting with autoworkers and labor leaders, and promised that any funds raised from Canada’s retaliatory tariffs would be used to support their jobs.

“This is a direct attack, to be clear, a direct attack on the very workers that I stood in front of ... this morning at the Ambassador Bridge,” which connects the Canadian city of Windsor to Detroit, renowned as the hub of the US auto industry.

Carney said the bridge “is a symbol and a reality up until now of the tight ties between our two countries, ties of kinship, ties of commerce, ties that are in the process of being broken.”