Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is pictured in Halifax, July 15, 2024.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is defending her campaign to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump not to impose tariffs on Canadian goods without any threats of retaliation as the country’s best bet in warding off punishing levies.
Her gentle approach to diplomacy contrasts with the firmer stand Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the rest of the country’s premiers have adopted in response to Mr. Trump’s plan to impose a 25-per-cent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico. Mr. Trudeau, on Tuesday, said he supports Canada matching U.S. tariffs dollar-for-dollar.
Ms. Smith, who is in Washington, D.C., for the President’s inauguration and subsequent celebrations, told reporters Tuesday that while her strategy has yet to produce results, she believes Mr. Trump would be open to a deal.
“My interpretation of the President is that he likes to win,” she said when asked why she favours diplomacy when trying to negotiate with a leader who has repeatedly shown admiration for muscular power. “So it is up to us to demonstrate how we can get a double win here.”
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Mr. Trump was sworn in Monday and excluded talk of tariffs on Canadian goods from his inauguration address. Further, he did not immediately impose a 25-per-cent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, as he had promised to do. This gave policy-makers in Canada some relief, which Mr. Trump snuffed out Monday evening when he said he was thinking about introducing those tariffs Feb. 1.
The President, signing a stack of executive orders Monday evening, said he is targeting Canada and Mexico because they allow “vast numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in” to the United States.
He signed a presidential action demanding various government departments provide him with reports on trade and tariffs by April 1. In the memo, he ordered the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Homeland Security to “assess the unlawful migration and fentanyl flows from Canada, Mexico,” and China and “recommend appropriate trade and national security measures to resolve that emergency.”
Because Mr. Trump wants the United States to become a major exporter of oil and gas, crowding out rivals and supporting allies, Ms. Smith said she is trying to demonstrate that Alberta can help the President achieve his goal. The U.S. consumes about 20 million barrels of oil per day but produces just 13 million, so fossil fuels from Canada can “backfill” domestic demand and support Mr. Trump’s export ambitions, Ms. Smith argued.
Mr. Trump has given no public indication he’s open to Ms. Smith’s overtures.
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Mr. Trudeau, in response to the renewed tariff threat, said Canada is ready to work with the U.S. to “create a booming and secure North American economy.” But he warned that his government stands ready to respond with retaliatory tariffs. “Everything is on the table, and I support the principle of dollar-for-dollar matching tariffs.”
The Liberal cabinet is meeting at the Château Montebello resort, about an hour outside of Ottawa, to plan Canada’s response to the tariffs.
Ms. Smith has spent weeks trying to convince the President that tariffs, especially on energy exports from Canada, would harm Americans. She has pursued him through a number of avenues, including brief encounters with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida thanks to an invitation from businessman Kevin O’Leary; appearances on American networks, particularly Fox News; and by trying to build relationships with American lawmakers and people believed to have Mr. Trump’s ear.
The Premier, on Tuesday, said Canada should try to resolve the pending crisis by responding to Mr. Trump’s national security concerns tied to international borders.
“If that’s the the issue, let’s address it,” she said. “Let’s not be a national security problem for the United States.”
Ms. Smith again rejected responding with retaliatory tariffs, noting the Canadian economy is far smaller than that of its southern neighbour.
“We are far more reliant on the trade relationship with them than they are on us. And so trying a tit-for-tat tariff war, without addressing the underlying issues, is not going to go well for Canada,” she said.
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Ms. Smith’s diplomatic efforts – which include pitching the U.S. on buying more oil from Alberta and fighting suggestions Canada retaliate by trimming, suspending, or taxing energy exports – have put her at odds with Ottawa and other premiers. Alberta did not sign last week’s joint statement outlining how Canada could respond to Mr. Trump’s tariff threats. Ms. Smith said she withheld support because the federal government refused to rule out export levies or restrictions on energy exports.
Ms. Smith, after Mr. Trump’s inauguration address but before his Oval Office remarks, rolled out a six-point plan she believes will shield Canada from the threat of tariffs. She reiterated that strategy Tuesday.
Her blueprint ranges from reviving plans for failed pipeline projects to revising the country’s immigration rules. It includes measures designed to satisfy Mr. Trump’s complaint that Canada and Mexico allow migrants and illegal drugs to flood the United States, despite a lack of evidence the northern border serves as a porous access point.
Canada, she said, needs to “immediately” implement her strategy to “preserve and strengthen our economic and security partnership with the United States, and to avoid the future imposition of tariffs.”
She stressed the importance of negotiating – but only if retaliatory threats are omitted.
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Canada, Ms. Smith said, must “immediately repeal all federal anti-energy policies” and “fast track” what she called “pre-approvals” for the cancelled Northern Gateway pipeline project to the west coast and the shelved Energy East effort to the eastern seaboard.
Pipeline proponents argue these projects would lessen Alberta’s dependence on the U.S., which is the province’s largest trading partner.
She also advocated for a “crackdown on immigration streams and loopholes that are known to permit individuals hostile to Canada and the United States to enter our country, and restore immigration levels and rules to those under former prime minister Stephen Harper.”
Ottawa, in October, dialled back the number of permanent residents it intends to permit, after freezing targets in 2023.
The Premier also said Canada must “announce a major acceleration” of its NATO defence-spending target of 2 per cent of GDP.
“This is clearly a shared priority that benefits both of our nations. There is no excuse for further delay,” Ms. Smith said.
Mr. Trump has accused Canada of being a freeloader when it comes to continental defence, but he has not outright demanded the northern country meet its NATO target in exchange for him backing down from his proposal.
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Ms. Smith said Canada should explore creative avenues to support Mr. Trump’s export ambitions and security concerns. Alberta oil, she said as an example, could be used to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the world’s largest emergency stockpile of crude. America wields the SPR as a tool of foreign policy because it deters importers from pinching supply.
“If we’re able to be that provider, for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, maybe that counts toward our NATO commitment. That we can support their international efforts at security as well,” Ms. Smith told reporters.
Ms. Smith, in December, said Alberta would create its own border patrol team, directly responding to one of Mr. Trump’s tariff demands. The plan also aligns with her own desire to create an Alberta police service to replace the RCMP. On Monday, she demanded Canada and her provincial counterparts beef up border control.
“Double down on border security. Within the next month, all border provinces should either by themselves, or in partnership with the federal government, deploy the necessary resources to secure our shared border from illegal drugs and migration,” she said.
Mr. Trump is perturbed that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada. Ms. Smith reiterated a proposal she floated last week: that Canada narrow the deficit by purchasing more American products.
The U.S. should try to buy more oil, timber, and agricultural products from Canada in exchange for Canada shopping for more gas turbines, military equipment, and computer hardware necessary to power data centres for artificial intelligence, Ms. Smith said.