Alberta premier increasingly stands alone on Trump tariffs

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OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said Tuesday she continues to favour cross-border diplomacy over retaliatory threats, even with newly installed President Donald Trump pledging to bring in across-the-board 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico by Feb. 1. 

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Speaking from Washington, D.C., Smith told reporters that she didn’t care if her fellow Canadians overwhelmingly supported hitting back at the U.S.

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“I don’t govern by opinion polls,” said Smith. “I govern by what I think is the right approach.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking at a cabinet retreat in Montebello, Que., said on Tuesday morning that Trump should expect a counterpunch if he moves ahead with tariffs.

“If there are tariffs, we are ready to respond and defend Canada’s interests,” said Trudeau.

Trudeau told reporters he supported the idea of dollar-for-dollar matching tariffs in principle, saying he was taking nothing off the table.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also continued his tough talk on trade this week, saying he’d clear U.S.-made beer, wine and spirits from LCBO shelves if U.S. tariffs were imposed.

“They will feel the pain. I will make sure I communicate this to our other premiers that they should be following suit,” said Ford.

Even Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, usually a reliable partner of Smith’s on energy issues, looks to be letting her fight this battle alone.

“There’s times when we have to come together to represent what’s in the best interests of all Canadians,” Moe said at a news conference to close out last week’s first ministers’ meeting in Ottawa.

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“We in Saskatchewan, we continue to be Canadians.”

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joined the call for retaliatory tariffs in a Tuesday statement, calling for an emergency session of Parliament to push these measures through.

“We… need retaliatory tariffs, something that requires urgent Parliamentary consideration,” wrote Poilievre.

Smith said that escalating trade hostilities would be a bad idea for overmatched Canadian negotiators, especially when there’s little Canada can credibly do to make a dent in the much larger and more diversified U.S. economy.

“I don’t know that (Trump) responds well to threats, especially empty ones,” said Smith.

“I’m of the view that we have to find a deal from a more diplomatic point of view.”

Analysts say that cutting off the cross-border flow of fossil fuels and electricity would create a short-term crunch in certain regions, such as the Upper Midwest and Northeast Corridor, but add that it would be fairly easy for the U.S. to reroute energy supply chains to eliminate their long-run dependency on Canada.

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Smith said U.S. refineries, which are rigged to process heavy oil like the kind found in Alberta’s oil sands, will be keen to continue their relationships with Canadian suppliers, especially with the alternatives being hostile regimes like Iran and Venezuela.

Trump also said on Monday that the U.S. would likely stop buying oil from Venezuela and was looking “very strongly” at new sanctions against the country’s socialist regime.

Smith said that, while she understood the emotions involved in the current impasse, we shouldn’t lose sight of the big picture, stressing the two countries’ long history of mutually beneficial bilateral relations.

“This is a relationship that’s lasted more than 100 years,” said Smith. “We have skirmishes from time to time, but you don’t torch a 100-year relationship over a temporary problem.”

Smith, who was the only first minister not to sign a joint statement on Canada-U.S. relations last week, continues to stand alone as her counterparts ramp up their trade rhetoric.

Smith says she’ll continue to take meetings in Washington today and tomorrow, and plans to return to Canada on Thursday.

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With files from the Canadian Press

National Post
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