Only a few hours remain until US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office. Canadian officials say they still don’t know whether he will follow through on his constant threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
“We’ve done a lot of good lobbying, but we’re also now ready to respond to whatever decision (Trump) makes, assuming that’s what comes next,” Treasury Secretary Dominic LeBlanc said in an interview Rosemary Barton Live which aired on Sunday.
Trump has threatened to impose a blanket 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods, a move that experts and lawmakers have warned against would be devastating to the Canadian economy.
Canadian officials have struggled to persuade Trump to back down. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump End of November. Ontario has threatened to be cut off Energy exports. Now Canada has it Counter tariffs prepared This would apply to $37 billion worth of goods that would be less damaging to the Canadian economy.
Asked if he had any clues about Trump’s tariff plan, LeBlanc said Canadian officials had spoken to Republican senators and the president-elect’s Cabinet secretaries, but the situation was still unclear.
CBC’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton speaks with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc about how Canada is preparing for possible tariffs from the United States. Barton also speaks with Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce about his visit to Washington for the presidential inauguration and Ontario’s response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threat.
“Either they don’t know, or they’re not telling us, or (President-elect) Trump hasn’t made those final decisions,” LeBlanc told host Rosemary Barton.
If the need arises, LeBlanc said, Canada’s initial plan is to introduce a “very short” consultation period on an initial round of countermeasures in response to anything Trump might do, and then consider escalation.
“Our goal is not to learn to deal with potential tariffs,” LeBlanc said. The goal, in his words, is to “take temporary measures to hopefully get us out of the other side of these (U.S.) tariffs.”
Wilbur Ross, who served as commerce secretary during Trump’s first term, said he does not believe the president-elect will take office Monday automatically imposing tariffs on Canada.
Ross also said it would be “good for Canada to make preparations so that it doesn’t crawl around,” although he warned that it would not be in Canada’s interest to get into a “turf war” with the U.S. because it is for the Canadian economy is so important.
Power struggles in the Federation
Canada’s efforts to circumvent Trump’s tariffs stalled on Wednesday after an hours-long meeting in Ottawa between all 13 premiers and the prime minister.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith posted on social media that she could I will not agree to the Canadian plan Trump because federal officials “continue to publicly and privately promote the idea of cutting off U.S. energy supplies and imposing export tariffs on Alberta energy and other products to the United States.”
“Until these threats stop, Alberta will not be able to fully support the federal government’s plan to deal with the threat of tariffs,” she said.
As Danielle Smith prepares for Donald Trump’s inauguration, her approach to dealing with the threat of 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada has remained consistent. She tries to negotiate rather than seek revenge. The CBC’s Sam Samson has more.
Smith’s comments drew the ire of Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who said “country comes first” and Canada must be united.
Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the province understands Smith’s concerns, but “ultimately, unity will be our strength.”
“Premier Ford has made the case that we must be united to maximize pressure on the United States and to remove (President-elect) Trump’s ability to divide and conquer within the federation,” Lecce said in an interview Rosemary Barton Live.
LeBlanc said the federal government is confident there is a “great consensus” in Canada about how to deal with Trump’s tariffs and Ottawa is “sensitive” to Alberta’s concerns.
Asked why Canada couldn’t get Trump to back off his threats, Lecce said there had been “shifts in aim” from the president-elect, who had previously criticized Canada’s border security, defense spending and trade imbalance with the United States.
The U.S. could work with Ontario and Canada to “create an unstoppable energy alliance,” Lecce said, or it could trade with “the dictators of the world.”
Ontario’s energy minister also said he believes “sober heads will prevail” and that the U.S. will recognize Canada’s economic value and that the two countries “need each other to drive that growth.”