Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the federal government should address U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s concerns about the Canada-U.S. border to prevent possible economic catastrophe.
As the returning U.S. president threatened to levy 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports if the trading partners don’t take action on illegal migrant border crossings and drug smuggling, Smith pointed a finger at what she sees as federal Liberal government failures.
“It’s incumbent, I believe, on the federal government, along with all of the provinces, to work together to address those concerns if we want to be able to avoid these devastating tariffs that’ll hurt all of us,” Smith said on CBC’s Power and Politics on Tuesday.
Smith said those steps should include preventing newcomers from using Canada as a conduit to enter the United States illegally, improving detection of fentanyl crossing the border, and investing two per cent of Canada’s gross domestic product on defence, as desired by NATO allies.
The premier said Trump isn’t offering any exemptions from his proposed 25 per cent tariffs because his concerns are too important to ignore.
As premiers prepare to hold an emergency meeting Wednesday with the federal government about the threatened tariffs, Smith said she hoped her counterparts will consider support for greater national border security, such as 24-hour patrols or the use of drones.
“The provinces have been raising for some time their concern that the actions of this government were wrecking our relationship with the United States and wrecking our trade relationship,” Smith told reporters during a news conference at the Alberta legislature on Tuesday.
Smith made the remarks while announcing her government’s plans to resist the imposition of a federal emissions cap on Alberta’s oil and gas industry. The United Conservative Party government is pondering collecting oil and gas products from private companies instead of financial oil royalties, and marketing those products to the U.S., among other measures.
When asked about the potential value of selling Alberta oil to the U.S. in the face of punitive tariffs, Smith said she hadn’t seen those coming when the province was brainstorming ways to circumvent the impacts of the emissions cap.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also publicly agreed with Trump’s border security concerns. The federal Conservative Party of Canada also issued a Tuesday statement saying Trump has the right to put the security of American workers and people first.
A senior Canadian government source who spoke to CBC on the condition of confidentiality said the government thinks partisan comments such as Smith’s are unhelpful in preparing to negotiate with the U.S. with a unified front.
The source said the federal government believes it is problematic that Canadian politicians are telegraphing to Trump and his team that his concerns are true, and that will not help to change a future Trump administration’s perspective.
Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi says the Smith government is weakening Canada’s negotiating position with the U.S. by showing division. (Manuel Carrillos Avalos/CBC)
Trump is slated to be sworn in as the 49th U.S. president on Jan. 20 after winning the election earlier this month.
Showing division a sign of weakness: Nenshi
Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi called Smith’s response to the tariff threat incoherent and a “terrible act of political theatre” that was ill-timed.
“Pure performance, completely meaningless and really quite shocking on a day when Alberta and Canada are facing an existential crisis,” Nenshi told reporters at the legislature.
Nenshi said Smith is weakening Canada’s negotiating position by portraying Canadian leaders as divided.
Alberta Energy and Minerals Minister Brian Jean said on his way into the legislature Tuesday he can’t see Trump raising gasoline prices in the U.S. midwest by 25 per cent. He added, that doesn’t mean he thinks Trump is bluffing about tariffs.
R.J. Sigurdson, Alberta’s agriculture minister, said such tariffs would have a punishing effect on the province’s farmers and ranchers, and could raise food prices and prompt more food insecurity.
“That’s why I’m calling on the federal government and Prime Minister [Justin] Trudeau to take this seriously,” Sigurdson said. “Get to the table with president-elect Trump and start dealing with some of these open border issues that Trump has a problem with so we don’t end up with retaliatory actions like tariffs on our agricultural products.”
