Canada’s provincial premiers are sharply divided over how to prepare for U.S. trade tariffs, less than a week before Donald Trump takes office, which threatens to radically reshape relations between the two countries.
Canadian officials have sought to defuse the crisis with personal appeals to the president-elect, multimillion-dollar ad campaigns and targeted threats, but the country remains gripped by uncertainty over how Trump’s tariffs will could come into force. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the new US administration was considering raising tariffs by 2% to 5% per month to avoid high inflation.
And while Justin Trudeau’s government remains largely silent on next steps, Canada’s provincial leaders, keenly aware of the impending economic damage, have taken matters into their own hands.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met briefly with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida over the weekend, and returned home with the sad news that she had received no assurance that The president-elect’s team intended to walk away from threatening to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods — a move that economists say would be damaging on both sides of the border.
“I think we need to prepare for tariffs coming,” she told reporters.
Smith, the first prime minister to meet with Trump since his first tariff threats in November, had hoped to secure “exclusions” for Canadian oil. His province exports 3.5 million barrels of oil to the United States every day.
But unlike other premiers, Alberta’s leader has repeatedly warned against national calls for retaliation, warning that she “will not tolerate” a potential energy embargo: “You end up making yourself hurt while trying to fight back. »
In contrast, Ontario Premier Doug Ford considered suspending electricity exports to the United States or targeting American alcoholic beverages, warning that the United States would “feel pain” if they implemented the tariffs.
But Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe expressed support for Smith’s position, echoing the assertion that retaliatory tariffs would harm the country.
“It would be the most divisive conversation and situation that we could have in Canada,” Moe told CBC..
But Ford says Smith is “not speaking for the country” when she opposes a strong response from the provinces.
“It’s Danielle Smith, she speaks for Alberta…I speak for Ontario, which is going to be affected much more,” he told the Guardian. “(Trump’s team) is not going to go after oil. They are attacking Ontario. Let’s be very clear about this – and we will make sure we do everything we can to protect Ontario jobs.
On Tuesday, he warned job losses could reach 500,000 if the tariffs were implemented, highlighting the nature of Ontario’s manufacturing supply chains.
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The dispute appears to undermine the united “Team Canada” approach sought by the country’s leaders and risks causing friction when the prime ministers meet on Wednesday.
New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh wants Canada to block exports of critical minerals, including lithium and potash, to deter the United States from imposing tariffs.
“If (Trump) wants to pick a fight with Canada, we need to make sure it’s clear that it’s going to hurt the Americans as well,” Singh said at a news conference in Ottawa.
Canada’s former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper also weighed in on the issue, telling a US podcast host that Trump’s rhetoric was not that of a “friend, partner and ally”.
The U.S. president-elect has focused on what he sees as a trade deficit with Canada, suggesting that the country sells about 100 billion Canadian dollars (70 billion U.S. dollars) more per year to the United States. United.
Harper said Canada sells oil to the United States at a discount because of export constraints.
“It is true that Canada currently has a modest trade surplus with the United States. The reason we do it is because you buy a lot of our oil and gas,” he said. “You’re actually buying it at a discount to global markets. It’s actually Canada that is subsidizing the United States in this regard… Maybe Canadians, if Mr. Trump thinks so, should consider selling their oil and gas to other people. We’ve definitely always wanted to do this – maybe now is the time to do it.
