Premier of Alberta Danielle Smith and President-elect Trump met Saturday and discussed the “mutual importance” of a U.S.-Canada energy relationship and the hundreds of thousands of American jobs supported by Alberta exports.
“In the last 24 hours, I had the opportunity to meet with the President [Trump] at Mar-a-Lago last night and at his golf club this morning,” Smith wrote in an article on energy between the United States and Canada, and in particular, how hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by Alberta energy exports.
She went on to say she had similar discussions with “several key allies” of the new Trump administration, during which she was encouraged by their support for “a strong energy and security relationship with Canada.”
“On behalf of Albertans, I will continue to engage in constructive dialogue and diplomacy with the new administration and federal and state elected officials from both parties, and I will do everything I can to advance the interests of Alberta and Canada” , Smith said. “The United States and Canada are proud, independent nations with one of the world’s most important security alliances and the largest economic partnership in history. We must preserve our independence while developing this essential partnership for the benefit of Canadians and Americans for generations to come. »
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with President-elect Trump and other members of his transition team at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday. (Danielle Smith X)
Smith posted about the meeting on X, nearly a week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation amid growing pressure within his own Liberal Party and increased criticism of his handling of the economy and the threats made by Trump.
However, as Trudeau announced Monday his intention to resign as prime minister once the Liberal Party he leads chooses his successor, the biggest setback for Trump’s speech to annex Canada – and his proposed 25% tariffs on the country’s exports – came from the premier of Canada’s most populous province, Ontario.
Smith and Trump discussed the relationship between the United States and Canada. (Danielle Smith X)
Doug Ford, a former businessman and conservative who has served as Ontario’s 26th premier since 2018, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the president-elect’s targeting of Canada is both “crazy” and ” ridiculous “.
Trump reacts to Trudeau’s resignation: ‘MANY PEOPLE IN CANADA LIKE BEING THE 51ST STATE’
He said the bilateral focus should be on “strengthening” what the Canadian government calls a nearly trillion-dollar bilateral deal. commercial relationship to “make the United States and Canada the richest and most prosperous countries in the world.”
The president-elect has trolled Canada in recent weeks, floating the idea of the country becoming the 51st state and posting a doctored photo of himself standing next to a Canadian flag on a mountaintop.
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Trump also pushed Denmark to sell the North Atlantic island of Greenland to the United States.
Fox News’ Christopher Guly contributed to this report.
