WASHINGTON — Canada has taken its concerns about U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs to the belly of the beast.
Federal, provincial and territorial officials were at the White House on Wednesday to urge the Trump administration not to impose the levies that would damage the Canadian and American economies.
The flurry of meetings came as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Ottawa would respond “in an equally unequivocal way” if the president stacked tariffs upon tariffs in response to any countermeasures by Canada against U.S. imports.
Speaking in Brussels after meetings with European and NATO leaders, Trudeau said if Trump makes good on his threats, it could undermine Canada’s relationship with the U.S.
“It’s not our choice. We don’t want to be doing that, but we will, regardless of the level of tariffs that eventually the administration might move forward on, we will be equally unequivocal in our response,” he said.
In Washington, federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc insisted diplomacy is working.
LeBlanc met here with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Kevin Hassett, Trump’s top economic adviser, and updated them on the appointment of former RCMP deputy commissioner Kevin Brosseau as “fentanyl czar” to curb cross-border drug trafficking.
“So I’m optimistic that that conversation is very constructive. I’m also optimistic that we have a better understanding of the process that Mr. Lutnick is going through in terms of the April 1 … global tariff decisions,” Leblanc said after his 90-minute meeting at the White House with Lutnick, Hassett and Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S.
“We also discussed, obviously, our concern around steel and aluminum tariffs,” LeBlanc said, referring to Trump’s planned 25 per cent tariffs that are supposed to take effect on March 12.
But LeBlanc said the president’s repeated musings about making Canada “the 51st state” did not come up in the high-level discussion.
“I’m confident that we very much have their attention. I told them clearly that Canadians have become quite emotional in the last number of weeks and quite united in terms of doing what’s necessary to avoid this punitive impact on our economy,” he said.
For the first time, all 13 provincial and territorial leaders were in the American capital at the same time, where they warned U.S. lawmakers that Trump’s levies would cripple the economies of both nations.
The subnational leaders also secured an afternoon meeting at the White House with Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Jim Blair.
Some of the premiers, here as part of the Council of the Federation lobbying mission, say it is necessary to be ready to retaliate, given Trump’s planned tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Quebec Premier François Legault said “retaliation must be done if and only if there are tariffs that are really charged.”
“So far, it won’t be done before March 4, but we have to prepare ourselves. We already have an enhanced list of counter-tariffs. I think you should consider also putting exportation tariffs on products like aluminum, where they really need us,” said Legault.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith appealed for calm.
“I think diplomacy is working. The fact that we got a 30-day reprieve was because we agreed to work on the cross-border problem of fentanyl,” Smith said. “I was pleased to see the federal government announce the fentanyl czar, and my administration has already been in touch with him.
“What I’ve seen from this president is that he is prepared to make a deal. We’ve made a deal on that. I think we can make a deal on steel and aluminum by making very much the same argument that I’m making on energy and critical minerals,” added the Albertan.
“We’ve won the argument that those raw materials are essential to American success. It comes in, it makes value-added products, it creates good American jobs, it creates good American products that we buy back. Same thing for aluminum. They just do not make enough for their defence industry, their auto industry and their critical needs,” she said.
“So I think aluminum can make the very same argument. And on steel, we buy as much steel product from them as they buy.”
Ontario’s Doug Ford, here on the first of two diplomatic trips during the Feb. 27 provincial election campaign, said the premiers have to show the maple leaf flag.
“What success looks like is zero tariffs. We’re their largest trading partner and their number-one customer and I’m not too sure that they fully understand the impact on both countries,” said Ford, the Progressive Conservative leader whose trip has been criticized by Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie and NDP Leader Marit Stiles.
“Interest rates will go up. Plants will be closed on both sides of the border. And the more we communicate, the better it is. We’re down here to listen to our U.S. colleagues and we’re down here to communicate with the U.S. colleagues and business people on both sides of the border, and we have to make sure that we communicate how important it is to be stronger together,” he said before the White House meeting.
Hillman said it was useful to have so many Canadian political leaders in Washington at once.
“Our job is to demonstrate in as much granularity as possible — acros all regions of this country — what the (Canadian) relationship with the United States means for Americans,” the ambassador said, adding that a heightened awareness of how the U.S. benefits from the relationship could “change the benefit calculation of the White House and the president with regards to the imposition of those tariffs.”
