Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada’s premiers convened to discuss Canada’s response to President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming tariffs, highlighting the reciprocal trade relationship between the two G7 economies.
Canada has been on high alert since Trump pledged 25% tariffs against Canada’s imports on day one of his administration. Since then, the incoming U.S. president has repeatedly brought up the idea of Canada becoming America’s 51st state and threatened to use “economic force” to merge the two countries.
“This is certainly a moment to gather and reflect on challenges and opportunities in the relationship with the United States,” Trudeau said ahead of the first ministers meeting on Wednesday.
“Every different region of the country has a deep relationship with our single biggest trading partner, and making sure that the interests and the concerns of all Canadians are fed into our national response.”
He said Canada will continue to be looking to demonstrate that Canada is looking for a path that benefits both countries in order to deepen Canada’s “great relationship” with the U.S.
He said that the morning would be spent discussing what mutual advantages Canada can bring to the negotiating table – while the afternoon, the premiers and Trudeau, along with Global Affairs Minister Melanie Joly, and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc will look into potential retaliatory measures.
They will be addressing how Canada will answer Trump’s call to strengthen the U.S.-Canada border and increase its fight against illegal drugs, specifically fentanyl, ensuring integrity in Canada’s immigration system and joint management of the border.
Trudeau said they would also look at “other opportunities for partnership,” including energy and critical minerals.
“We all know in 2023 for example, the U.S. imported about $123 billion worth of energy into the U.S.,” Trudeau said. “It is an extraordinarily important relationship for them that powers their jobs, their industry, their homes. We need to continue that, and we can even do more on energy, as I know they want to.”
He said he hopes to leverage U.S. concerns over China in the future negotiations.
“Critical minerals represent a key area of development as well, where we have the ingredients in the technological transformation of our economies that the Americans need,” he said. “If they don’t get them from Canada, they’ll get them from China. And if they can’t get them from Canada or China, they don’t get them from anywhere.”
The joint defence of North America will also be a topic in the morning as they discuss “procurement opportunities” with the U.S. to further meet Canada’s responsibility to protect the Arctic in a way that satisfies Trump’s concerns.
Premier Doug Ford was particularly interested in what retaliatory measure Canada could bring to the negotiation table.
“We need to enter these negotiations from a position of strength with as much leverage as possible,” Ford said at the top of the meeting. “I’m a strong believer in retaliatory tariffs. You can’t let someone hit you over the head with a sledgehammer without hitting him back places twice as hard, in my opinion.”
Ford said the premiers will hear what other retaliatory measures Canada has available to it beyond tariffs. He recently suggested cutting off energy to America’s Northeast as it relies heavily on Canadian energy, but Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said doing so would create a national unity crisis.
Without naming her, Ford took a likely jab at Smith for saying she would not be willing to cut off energy supply to the U.S.
“I’ve been in business for years, like a lot of people around this table. I’ve been in politics for years. You don’t go into a meeting or a negotiation showing the opposition what sort of cards you have in your hand,” he said. “It doesn’t work that way. And rest assured, if we use every tool, Canada has a lot of leverage.”
Before the meeting, he was wearing a Trump-style hat that said, “Canada is not for sale.” He was asked if he was referring to Smith when he said Canada should not be “showing its cards” before negotiations. He said it would be a topic of discussion at the meeting.
Ford also asked for “regular meeting engagement” with either the Prime Minister or his ministers going forward until the potential economic crisis was resolved.
