The leaders were asked about how they would negotiate with President Trump and respond to his tariffs on Canada. Trump has implemented blanket 25% tariffs on goods from Canada, with an exemption on products covered by the USMCA - a North American free trade deal. Canada is also hit with global US tariffs on steel and aluminium and cars. The president has also publicly mused about Canada becoming the 51st US state. Canada's government has previously said its position is to implement "dollar-for-dollar" tariffs with the aim of inflicting maximum pain on the US economy. But during the debate, the leaders appeared to contend with the fact that Canada's economy is dwarfed by the US, and that it is ultimately not an equal fight. "We've moved on from dollar-for-dollar tariffs," Carney said, acknowledging that the US economy is more than 10 times the size of Canada's. Instead he said that if elected his government would focus on incentivising businesses to stay in Canada in order to protect jobs in the country. That doesn't mean retaliatory tariffs are off the table, he added. Rather, the Liberal leader said the focus would shift to targeted tariffs designed to maximise pain on the US and hurt Canada as little as possible. Trump appears to have softened his language on Canada in recent weeks. After a phone call with the US president in late March, Carney said Trump "respected Canada's sovereignty" and that their conversation was "constructive". "We had a very good conversation," Trump said afterwards, noting that Canada is in the middle of an election and that he would meet with the winner afterwards.