Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said the province is pleased Canada seemingly avoided sweeping tariffs on Day 1 of the Trump administration, but the threat remains as the new president assesses his options.
Trump briefly broached the topic of tariffs in his inaugural address on Monday but later said the plan was to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods on Feb. 1.
Speaking earlier in the day, Smith said the immediate reprieve from tariffs is an opportunity to negotiate with Trump.
“Does it mean that we won’t see tariffs at all? I don’t know that. But it does mean we have the opportunity to make our case, so I think we should be grateful for that,” Smith said during an interview with CTV News following the inauguration.
“But I don’t think we want to take it for granted, there’s still obviously irritants in the relationship between Canada and the U.S., and I think this gives us an opportunity to address some of those.”
Smith cited border security, drugs and Canada’s NATO commitment as some of the possible “irritants” affecting the relationship with the U.S.
The premier visited with Trump in Mar-a-Lago last week, making the case for Alberta’s value as a trading partner and spent the days leading up to the inauguration in Washington taking photos and mingling with several political and industry stakeholders.
“I can tell you the argument that I made; what I say is that our energy provides the Americans the opportunity to be energy-dominant, which is what we know they want,” she said.
“They simply would not be able to export as much as they do right now without being able to have Canada as the backfill. We provide cheap energy to the U.S.; they upgrade it, they export it, and it also provides low-cost products to their consumers.”
That dream of energy dominance was a key part of Trump’s speech, saying he will declare an energy emergency and promising to “drill baby, drill.”
One energy lobbyist in Fort McMurray says this makes Alberta’s oil the perfect tool to negotiate with Trump.
“There’s sort of a renewed vigour from the federal government, (who) are supporting us now because we (have) become a very powerful bargaining chip and the potential tariffs from Trump,” said Robbie Picard, an energy advocate.
Smith was unable to attend the inauguration in person, as planned, after cold weather forced the event inside.
Last week, Smith broke with her fellow premiers and the prime minister, refusing to sign a joint statement saying every countermeasure – including energy exports – is on the table when it comes to responding to Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods.
Lori Williams, professor in policy studies at Mount Royal University, says Smith’s appearance in Washington can benefit Alberta but believes Canada and the premier need to remain united when it comes to messaging.
“Oil and gas on the one hand, and the auto industry and the others, both of those were mentioned in the speech,” she said.
“And so, it just indicates there’s still work to be done.”
In a statement Monday, Smith listed six steps she says Canada needs to take to “preserve and strengthen our economic and security partnership with the United States and to avoid the future imposition of tariffs.”
Those suggestions included refraining from further talk of retaliatory measures, doubling down on border security, announcing an acceleration of Canada’s two per cent GDP NATO target and repealing all federal anti-energy policies, among others.
With files from CTVNews.ca, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
