Certain Canadian leaders are urging Ottawa to respond strongly to the tariff threats from incoming U.S. President Donald Trump. These leaders even highlighted the important minerals and metals as products that the U.S. relies on, according to Canada’s Finance Minister said on Wednesday.
This “call-to-action” is coming as the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other government ministers met with provincial premiers to deliberate Trump’s promise to impose steep tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports after he is sworn in as President in January.
That promise has heightened fears of a trade war between the U.S. and two of its biggest trading partners.
The Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland had told reporters after the meeting that;
“A number of premiers offered strong support for a robust Canadian response that included some of the premiers proactively naming critical minerals and metals that their provinces produce, and which are exported to the United States.”
Canada’s major concern right now is on reaching out to U.S. officials, Freeland reiterated, adding that Canadian business and labor leaders were also getting in touch with their U.S. counterparts.
On the other hand, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said energy exports to the United States may be halted, but he did offer further details to this statement.
Note that Ontario exports electricity to the U.S., and does not produce any of the 4 million barrels per day of oil that Canada ships south of the border.
“We’ll use every tool in our toolbox, including cutting them off energy that we’re sending down,” Ford had said to reporters.
Earlier on Monday, Trudeau said Canada would respond to unfair tariffs, as it did during Trump’s first term in office when Ottawa added tariffs to goods including bourbon, Harley Davidson motorcycles and cherries.
Trump has maintained that he will keep protectionist trade measures in place until Canada and Mexico enforce stringent measures on drugs and migrants crossing the borders into the U.S.
The Canadian federal government also talked about planned border security measures with the premiers, according to Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc, who further said that Canada would share the details of the talk with Trump’s team once they are finalized.
