Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a “Team Canada approach” is going to be vital in the face of sweeping new tariffs being pledged by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.
Trudeau said he had a “good call” with Trump, who announced Monday night that he will sign an executive order imposing a 25 per cent tariff on all products coming in to United States from Canada and Mexico once he comes into office.
“We obviously talked about laying out the facts, talking about how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa before a cabinet meeting.
“We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together. It was a good call.”
Trudeau said he has already been in contact with several premiers, including Ontario’s Doug Ford and Quebec’s François Legault, and a first ministers’ meeting will be held this week to talk about the U.S.
“This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do,” Trudeau said.
“One of the really important things is that we be all pulling together on this. The Team Canada approach is what works.”
Trump has said the tariffs will remain in place until both countries stop drugs, in particular fentanyl, and people from illegally crossing the borders.
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“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page.
“We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
A joint statement from Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Ottawa will continue to discuss border security issues with the incoming administration.
Trump’s announcement has raised concern among business groups and has been criticized by political leaders in Canada.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford posted on social media that a 25 per cent tariff would be devastating to workers and jobs in both Canada and the U.S.
Quebec Premier François Legault tweeted that everything must be done to avoid the tariffs, and British Columbia Premier David Eby posted Trump’s tariffs “would hurt Canadians and Americans alike.”
“Canadians must stand united. Ottawa must respond with strength,” Eby tweeted.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a social media post that the Trump administration has “valid concerns related to illegal activities” at the border. But she noted vast majority of her province’s energy exports to the U.S. are “delivered through secure and safe pipelines” which she said “do not in any way contribute to these illegal activities.”
Canadian American Business Council CEO Beth Burke said in a statement Monday night that Trump’s proposal would harm businesses on both sides of the border and would “erode the economic and geopolitical strength of North America.”
Modelling by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce suggests a 10 per cent across-the-board tariff would reduce the size of the Canadian economy between 0.9 and one per cent, resulting in around $30 billion per year in economic costs.
It estimates the U.S. would see around US$125 billion a year in economic costs.
“For the American businesses and for American consumers, this would mean higher prices and increased costs for input and less competitive business environment for America as well,” the chamber’s chief economist, Stephen Tapp, said in an interview with The Canadian Press on Monday.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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