With just hours until U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office, Canadian officials say they still don't know whether he will follow through on his ongoing threat to eliminate punitive tariffs on Canadian goods.
“We've done a lot of good work on advocacy, but we're also now ready to respond to whatever decision (Trump makes), assuming it's next,” Finance Secretary Dominic LeBlanc said during an interview with Rosemary Barton live which aired on Sunday.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods – a move that experts and lawmakers have warned against would be disastrous for the Canadian economy.
Canadian officials tried to get Trump to back down. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Trump at the end of November. Ontario has threatened to cut him off energy export. Now Canada has done it prepared counter-tariffs this would involve $37 billion in goods that would be less damaging to the Canadian economy.
Asked if he had any information 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 Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Barton talks to Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc about Canada's preparations for potential U.S. tariffs. Barton also talks 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 his final decisions yet,” LeBlanc told host Rosemary Barton.
LeBlanc said Canada's initial plan, if necessary, is for a “very short” consultation period on the first round of countermeasures in response to any actions by Trump, and then considering escalation.
“Our goal is not to learn how to live with potential tariffs,” LeBlanc said. The goal, he said, is to introduce “temporary measures that will hopefully allow us to get out the other side of these (US) tariffs.”
Wilbur Ross, who served as Commerce Secretary during the first Trump administration, said he doesn't think the president-elect will take office on Monday and automatically impose tariffs on Canada.
Ross also said it was “good that Canada has made preparations not to hang around,” although he cautioned that getting into a “turf war” with the U.S. is not in Canada's interest because it is crucial to the Canadian economy.
Internal struggles of the Federation
Canada's efforts to avoid Trump's tariffs suffered a setback Wednesday after an hour-long meeting in Ottawa between all 13 premiers and the prime minister.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith posted on social media that she might disagree with the Canadian plan oppose Trump as federal government officials “continue to publicly and privately promote the idea of cutting off U.S. energy supplies and imposing export tariffs on energy and other products from Alberta to the United States.”
“Until these threats subside, Alberta will not be able to fully support the federal government's plan to deal with threatened 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 unchanged. He tries to negotiate instead of retaliating. 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 come together.
Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the province understands Smith's concerns, but “ultimately, unity will be our strength.”
“Prime Minister Ford has argued that to maximize pressure on the U.S. and to deprive (President-elect) Trump of his ability to divide and conquer in a federation, we must be united,” Lecce said in an interview Rosemary Barton live.
LeBlanc said the federal government is confident there is “large consensus” in Canada on how to move forward with Trump's tariffs, and Ottawa is “sensitive” to Alberta's concerns.
Asked why Canada couldn't get Trump to back down on his threats, Lecce said the president-elect had “switched the goalpost” who had previously criticized Canada's border security, defense spending and trade imbalances with the United States.
The United States could work with Ontario and Canada to “create an unstoppable energy alliance,” Lecce said, or it could continue to trade with “world dictators.”
Ontario's energy minister also said he believes “sane minds will prevail” and that the United States will recognize Canada's economic value and realize the two countries “need each other to fuel that growth.”