Canada PM Carney Says Likelihood of US Recession Has Climbed 'Significantly'

By Paul Vieira

OTTAWA--Canadian Prime Minister and former central banker Mark Carney says the probability of a recession in the U.S. has increased "significantly," and Canada would be hard pressed to escape a sizable hit to economic activity.

At an election-campaign stop in British Columbia, Carney said the selloff in global equity markets should come as no surprise. "They are reacting to what we have warned of — which is that these tariffs are fundamentally damaging to the American economy and, by extension, to the global economy," he said.

He said that in the past 24 hours, he spoke with Bank of Canada Gov. Tiff Macklem on Monday, his finance minister and with senior policymakers across the world. He said he's confident that Canada's financial system remains in a rock-solid state.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com