Trump’s tariff plan is still unknown to Canadian officials, just hours before his inauguration.
Hours before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, Canadian officials say they don’t yet know whether they will follow through on threats to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
“We’ve done a lot of good advocacy work, but we’re ready to respond to whatever decision (Trump) makes in the future,” Finance Minister Dominique LeBlanc said in an interview. Rosemary Barton Live It aired on Sunday.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods. It would be a disaster for the Canadian economy..
Canadian officials have had trouble getting Trump to back down. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau He met with Trump At the end of November. She has Ontario. He threatened to terminate Export of energy. Now she has Canada. Prepared counter-tariff It applies to $37 billion in goods that do little harm to the Canadian economy.
Asked if there were any clues about Trump’s tariff plan, LeBlanc said Canadian officials were speaking with Republican senators and the president-elect’s cabinet secretaries, but the issue was still unclear.
CBC Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton talks with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc about how Canada is preparing for possible tariffs from the United States. Barton talks with Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lake about his visit to the presidential inauguration in Washington and Ontario’s response to US President-elect Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs.
“Either they don’t know, or they won’t tell us, or (President-elect) Trump hasn’t made those final decisions,” LeBlanc told host Rosemary Barton.
If necessary, LeBlanc said Canada’s initial plan is to have a “very short” consultation period on the first round of countermeasures in response to whatever Trump does.
“Our goal is not to learn how to live with potential tariffs,” LeBlanc said. The goal, in his words, “hopefully temporary measures to get us out of the other side of these (US) tariffs.”
Wilbur Ross, who served as commerce secretary during Trump’s first administration, said he doesn’t think the president-elect will take office on Monday and impose tariffs on Canada.
Although Ross warned that getting into a “turf war” with the U.S. is not in Canada’s interest because it is so critical to the Canadian economy, “Canada would do well to prepare.”
The internal strife of the Federation
Canada’s efforts to avoid Trump’s tariffs hit a major snag Wednesday following hours of meetings between the 13 premiers and the prime minister in Ottawa.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she posted on social media. It does not go with the Canadian plan To take on Trump, federal government officials “continue to publicly and privately float the idea of cutting off U.S. energy supplies and imposing tariffs on Alberta energy and other exports to the United States.”
“Until these concerns are addressed, Alberta cannot fully support the federal government’s plan to deal with the proposed tariffs,” she said.
As Danielle Smith prepares to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration, her approach to dealing with the threat of 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods remains consistent. She is trying to negotiate instead of revenge. 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 Lake said the province understands Smith’s concerns, but “ultimately our unity will be our strength.”
Premier Ford said that to increase the pressure on the US, we must unite to deny Trump’s ability to divide and conquer within the Fed. Rosemary Barton Live.
LeBlanc said the federal government has “great consensus” on how to proceed with Trump’s tariffs in Canada and believes Ottawa is “sensitive” to Alberta’s concerns.
Asked why Canada can’t get Trump to go back on his threats, the president-elect said the “goalposts are shifting,” having previously criticized Canada’s border security, defense spending and trade imbalances with the United States.
The United States could team up with Ontario and Canada to “create an unstoppable power alliance,” Leslie said, or trade with “the dictators of the world.”
Ontario’s energy minister also said that he believes that “common sense will prevail”, and that the US recognizes Canada’s economic importance and that the two countries “need each other to advance this growth”.
