Canada Prepares for Trump Tariff War: ‘Dollar for Dollar’ as Country Leaders Threaten Retaliation
Strategas Securities Chairman and CEO Jason Tennert discusses President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about Canada and ‘The Bottom Line’ of the SALT Tax.
Ottawa – On his first day as the 47th president, Donald Trump put Canadian leaders in a state of terror that night as he signed executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House with reporters in attendance.
In response to questions from reporters, Trump reiterated his plans to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada because they “let a lot of people … and fentanyl in,” adding, “I think we’re going to do it.” On February 1.”
Trump signed the so-called US First Trade Policy, an executive order that includes provisions to “assess illegal immigration and smuggling flows” from Canada, Mexico and China and recommend appropriate trade and national security measures to address the emergency.
Canadian leaders are ready to retaliate, whether the tariffs are next week or in the spring.
Canada prepares response to Trump tariffs: ‘There are no winners in trade wars’
President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders at the White House in Washington, DC on Monday. (Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images/Getty Images)
“Two things will happen,” said the outgoing liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau He spoke to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday about Trump’s threat of tariffs.
“One, Canada will have a strong, strong response,” he said. “And two, it increases the cost to the American consumer of everything, and we don’t think he wants it.”
Trudeau, who resigned on March 9 when his successor was named Liberal Party leader and prime minister, also addressed Trump’s border beef with Canada.
He said less than 1 percent of illegal drugs and immigrants enter the U.S. from Canada, and his government has invested about $904 million to strengthen border security and Canada’s immigration system.
Canadian government officials have drawn up plans to impose an estimated $26 billion in tariffs on the U.S. if the Trump administration goes ahead with the tariffs.
Canada’s response will be “dollar-for-dollar, tariff-tariff,” Doug Ford, Premier of Canada’s most populous province of Ontario, said in an interview.
President Donald Trump, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participate in a bilateral meeting at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, on August 25, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
If Trump were to impose tariffs on Canada when he returns to the White House on January 20, the Canadian government is reportedly preparing to impose tariffs on several US products, such as bourbon from the president’s home state of Florida and Kentucky, home to Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.
In Ontario, Ford has been ordered by the provincial Liquor Control Board to clear its shelves of U.S. liquor if the tariffs come through.
At Friday’s news conference, the premier said he will call an election next week that will send Ontarians to the polls on February 27. Ford wants a “strong mandate” to “fight Donald Trump’s tariffs” and oppose his “aggression.” The province’s families, businesses and communities.
Vehicles cross the Blue Water Bridge on the St. Clair River from Sarnia, Ontario, to Port Huron, Michigan on March 18, 2020. (Jeff Kowalski/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Ford plans two trips to Washington, D.C. next month.
On Wednesday, he and other provincial and territorial premiers held a virtual meeting with Trudeau, during which an informal “Buy Canadian” campaign to promote home-grown products over American-made products was discussed.
In a press conference earlier in the day, David Eby, Premier of the province of Western Canada, British Columbia, responded further to the arrival of the “outrageous” tariffs from south of the border.
“We will not spend money in a country that wants to cause economic harm to Canadians,” he said.
However, in Trump’s view, the opposite is true.
In a virtual speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday, Trump said the US has a $200 billion to $250 billion trade deficit with Canada. “We don’t want their gas,” he said about the country.
As a TD Economics Report Released this month, the U.S. is running a $45 billion trade deficit with Canada, all of which comes from Canadian energy exports to the U.S.
An Air Canada plane flies in front of the downtown Toronto skyline and CN Tower as it lands at Pearson International Airport on December 10, 2023. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“If you take energy off the table, the United States has a trade surplus,” said Ford, who spent 20 years in the U.S. with the family business and has a family home in Florida.
On the US podcast “Standpoint”, former Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper suggested that “it’s actually Canada that the United States is subsidizing in this regard” and that “maybe Canadians” should be looking to sell oil and gas. other people.”
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Hartford, Connecticut-born leader of the Green Party of Canada Elizabeth May — who joked earlier this month that Canada could accept the states of Washington, Oregon and California in response to Trump’s proposal to annex Canada as the 51st state — believes the president has unwittingly encouraged Canadian unity. .
“Canada is stronger than I’ve ever seen it,” she said in an interview.
“All Canadians are concerned about protecting Canada from Trump.”