The Canadian government prepares to take billions of dollars in retaliation against U.S. exports to Canada if President-elect Donald J. Trump makes good on his threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, setting up a potential showdown between the two countries that trade with each other the most. I’m doing it. partner.
Canada is putting together a list of measures that could include tariffs on U.S. exports to Canada and levies or other restrictions on key Canadian exports to the U.S. if President Trump imposes a 25% tariff on Canadian goods.
However, the government made it clear that it would wait to see how President Trump would react.
“Everything is on the table,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a news conference in Ottawa attended by senior government officials and leaders from most parts of Canada. Prime Minister Trudeau spent most of Wednesday discussing with regional leaders how best to prepare for potential U.S. tariffs.
Currently, the Canadian government is operating under the assumption that President Trump is serious about tariffs linking the flow of undocumented immigrants and drugs across the U.S.-Canada border.
Canada has already announced a series of measures to strengthen its borders, including more personnel and technology. The government said Wednesday it would deploy Black Hawk helicopters and more drones to strengthen surveillance at the shared border.
But in recent weeks, President Trump has made statements suggesting his motivation for imposing tariffs on Canadian goods may not be just about border security. The president-elect has repeatedly spoken of Canada becoming another U.S. state and even threatened his economic power to annex Canada.
President Trump has argued that the relationship favors Canada and that the imbalance should be addressed, as Canada has a trade surplus with the United States while the United States provides Canada with important defense guarantees.
Mr. Trump’s comments sparked distrust and anger among Canadian political leaders.
Any tariffs would violate the trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, originally known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The agreement was renegotiated during President Trump’s first term as president. It is scheduled to be renewed next year, but if any country introduces tariffs, it will violate the agreement and is likely to cause controversy.
Prime Minister Trudeau said Wednesday Canada is prepared to respond with equal aggression to any aggressive economic moves by the incoming Trump administration.
“I support the dollar-for-dollar principle,” Prime Minister Trudeau said. Officials said this could lead Canada to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of goods exported to the United States.
Canada could impose tariffs on key U.S. imports such as orange juice, officials said. But Trudeau acknowledged Wednesday that any tariffs imposed by either government would ultimately harm both countries and consumers.
The debate over what to do with the potentially devastating tariffs has strained relations between Canada’s federal government in the capital, Ottawa, and powerful provincial leaders.
While most premiers have rallied behind Trudeau and tried to plan a “Team Canada” approach, some have expressed opposing views.
Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, a major source of oil for the United States, has repeatedly said she will not agree to cut off her province’s key resource even as Canada’s oil exports are boosted with the goal of exporting oil to the United States. Negotiating hands.
Mr. Smith, who went to Mar-a-Lago in person this week to meet Mr. Trump, attended Wednesday’s meeting remotely and did not sign the joint statement issued by provincial leaders and Prime Minister Trudeau. Instead, she issued her own statement.
“Federal government officials continue to raise, both publicly and privately, the idea of cutting off energy supplies to the United States and imposing export tariffs on Alberta energy and other products to the United States,” Smith posted on He said. “A halt would prevent Alberta from fully supporting the federal government’s plan to address the tariff threat.”
Mr. Trudeau, members of his government and other premiers He made it clear that tariffs on oil exports should remain on the negotiating table as a means of putting pressure on the Trump administration.
About 80% of Canada’s oil is exported to the United States, which relies on Canada for more than half of its oil imports.
If Canada retaliates with its own tariffs, “it has to be fair across the country,” Trudeau said.
This month, Trudeau announced plans to step down until early March, when his political party, the Liberals, will elect a new leader to become prime minister. The country is expected to soon head to a federal election sometime in the spring, essentially leaving a lame-duck leader in charge in the first phase of the new Trump administration.
