Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be convening a meeting of all of Canada’s premiers “this week” to discuss U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s intent to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office, if border issues aren’t addressed.
“One of the really important things is that we be all pulling together on this. The Team Canada approach is what works,” Trudeau said, reacting to the major trade threat on his way in to Tuesday’s closed-door cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill.
The Prime Minister’s Office has confirmed the meeting will be held virtually, on Wednesday, at 5 p.m. EST.
Hours before Trump declared his intent to hit Canada with this sizeable tariff, Canada’s premiers had penned a letter to the prime minister asking him to hold an urgent first ministers’ meeting before Trump re-takes office.
Noting that he talked to a few premiers last night – including Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Quebec Premier Francois Legault – the prime minister said he agreed the group needed to get together to “talk about the United States.”
Since the tariff news broke, premiers were among the first to warn of the major impacts such a move would have on sectors across the country.
Trudeau talks ‘facts’ with Trump
Trudeau also spoke directly to Trump on Monday night, describing it as “a good call.”
“We obviously talked about laying out the facts, talking about how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth. We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together,” Trudeau continued.
“This is something that we can do. Laying out the facts, moving forward in constructive ways. This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that’s what we’ll do,” the prime minister said.
According to a senior government source, Trudeau noted on the call that the number of migrants who cross from Canada to the U.S. is far smaller than those who come through Mexico, and the two leaders vowed to stay in touch.
In a statement issued Monday night the chairs of the recently-revived Canada-U.S. relations cabinet committee, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, said that Canada “places the highest priority on border security and the integrity of our shared border.”
The pair also noted that Canada is “essential” to U.S. energy supply, saying last year 60 per cent of crude oil imports came from Canada, and touting work already underway to “disrupt the scourge of the fentanyl coming from China and other countries.”
Trudeau re-formed the special cabinet committee in response to Trump’s win and it has been meeting for a few weeks to navigate top issues as flagged by the incoming administration, such as trade and the border.
Ministers who make up this panel have also spoken about the need for a renewed “Team Canada” approach, in the face of what could be a fresh round of high-stakes trade talks, and the prospect of retaliatory tariffs, as seen during the Trump-sparked NAFTA renegotiation.
The looming tariff imposition is also likely to be a leading issue raised in question period later this afternoon.
What did Trump say last night?
Trump posted on social media platform Truth Social Monday night that as of Jan. 20, “as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.”
The president-elect said the tariffs would stay, until the two border countries address what he called the “long simmering problem” of drugs and illegal immigrants crossing into the United States.
“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!” Trump said.
This comes after Trump’s pick for border czar called the northern border “an extreme national security vulnerability,” and after the top Republican campaigned on the threat of a blanket 10 per cent or more import tariff.
Major economic impact concerns
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce had estimated based on the initial 10 per cent tariff prospect, that “if other countries retaliated with tariffs of their own, the ensuing trade war would result in roughly US$800 USD (C$1,100) in foregone income annually for people on both sides of the border.”
Author of that report University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe posted on X Monday night that if Trump does impose a 25 per cent tariff next year, the Canadian economy could enter a recession.
With files from CTV News’ Vassy Kapelos, Brennan MacDonald, and Mike Le Couteur