Mark Carney said Thursday that Canada is not yielding to U.S. pressure in ongoing trade talks, stressing that Ottawa is negotiating as an equal partner while seeking areas of mutual benefit.

"There's two parties in a negotiation. We're not sitting here taking notes, and taking instructions from the United States," Carney told reporters in Ottawa. Canada is "understanding their position" while identifying areas of shared benefit.

"We understand where it's in Canada's interest, in our joint interests, to be stronger together," he said. "This is a government that can do many things at one time."

Carney drew a sharp distinction between manageable trade friction and what he called outright violations. He said that a "50% tariff on steel, 50% tariff on aluminum, 25% tariff on automobiles, all the tariffs on forest products – those are more than irritants. Those are violations."

Emphasizing that the U.S. is Canada's "biggest trading partner by far," he also said Canada is the "second-biggest trading partner" for the U.S.

"There is a symbiosis between the two," he added.