Strategas Securities President and CEO Jason Tennet discusses President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks on Canada and the salt tax cap on “the bottom line.”
Ottawa – On his first day in office as the 47th President, Donald Trump Put Canadian leaders in panic mode that evening while signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in the presence of reporters.
Responding to questions from reporters, Trump reiterated his plan to slap a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada “because they’re allowing large numbers of people … and fentanyl to come in” and said: ” I think we will do it on February 1st “”
Trump signed the executive order called America First Trade Policy which includes a provision to “assess illegal migration and fentanyl flows” from Canada, Mexico and China “and recommend appropriate trade and national security measures to resolve this emergency “by April 1.
Whether tariffs come next week or in the spring, Canadian leaders are ready to fight back.
Canada prepares Trump tariff response: ‘In a trade war, there are no winners’
President Donald Trump signs a series of executive orders at the White House in Washington, DC, on Monday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images/Getty Images)
‘Two things will happen’, outgoing liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau On Thursday, reporters told Ottawa about Trump’s tariff threat.
“First, Canada will have a strong, solid response,” he said. “And two, prices for American consumers on just about everything will go up, and we don’t think he wants that.”
Trudeau, who leaves office on March 9 when his successor as Liberal party leader and prime minister is named, also addressed Trump’s border beef with Canada.
He said less than 1% of illegal drugs and migrants enter the United States from Canada, noting that his government has invested about $904 million to strengthen Canada’s border security and immigration system.
Canadian government officials have drafted a plan to impose countertariffs worth about $26 billion on the United States if the Trump administration proceeds with its tariff measures.
Canada’s response will be “Dollar-for-Dollar, tariff-for-tariff,” Doug Ford, premier of Canada’s most populous province of Ontario, said in an interview.
President Donald Trump, left, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participate in a bilateral meeting at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, August 25, 2019 (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
If Trump had imposed the tariffs against Canada during his January 20 return to the White House, the Canadian government would be prepared to slap tariffs on several American products, such as orange juice from the president’s state of residence , Florida and Kentucky Bourbon, home to Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.
In Ontario, Ford ordered the province’s liquor control board to clear shelves of American liquor if the tariffs came.
At a news conference Friday, the premier said he would call an election next week that would send Ontarians to the polls on Feb. 27. Ford asks for “a strong mandate” to “fight against Donald Trump’s tariffs” and his “attack” on families, businesses and communities in the province.
Energy experts weigh in after Canadian PM wants to discuss Keystone Pipeline 2.0 with Trump
Vehicles cross the Blue Water Bridge over the St. Claire River from Sarnia, Ontario to Port Huron, Michigan on March 18, 2020. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
Ford has two trips planned to Washington, D.C., next month.
On Wednesday, he and his provincial and territorial colleagues held a virtual meeting with Trudeau in which an informal “Buy Canadian” campaign was discussed to promote local rather than American-made products.
At a press conference the day before, David Eby, Premier of the western Canadian province of British Columbia, went even further by responding to the arrival of “catastrophic” tariffs from south of the border.
“We will not spend money on a country that wants to do economic harm to Canadians,” he said.
However, according to Trump, it is the opposite.
In a virtual address at the World Economic Forum In Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Trump said the United States had between a $200 billion and $250 billion trade deficit with Canada. “We don’t need their gas,” he said of the country.
According to a TD Economics Report Released this month
An Air Canada plane flies past the downtown Toronto skyline and the CN Tower as it lands at Pearson International Airport on December 10, 2023. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images/Getty Images)
“If you take energy off the table, the United States has a surplus when it comes to trade,” said Ford, who spent 20 years working in the United States through a family business and has a family home in Florida.
On the American podcast “Viewpoint”, former Canadian Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that “it’s actually Canada that is subsidizing the United States in this regard” and “maybe the Canadians” of other people. “
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Hartford, Connecticut-born Canadian Party leader Elizabeth May – who joked earlier this month.
“Canada is stronger now than I have ever seen it,” she said in an interview.
“All Canadians are concerned about protecting Canada against Trump.”
