‘Canada is tough… They are very, very tough to do business with, and we can’t let them take advantage of the U.S.,’ Trump said on Monday.
OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump toyed once more with the idea of annexing Canada to the United States, while Conservative politicians floated the idea of deploying the Canadian military to the border to avoid a looming Canada-U.S. trade war.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he had a “pretty good call” with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau earlier in the day, but added that he had “a couple of questions” that he would need to have answered in a subsequent call in the afternoon.
Trump announced over the weekend he would be imposing 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico as of Tuesday. But in the hours before the deadline, Mexico and the U.S. were able to secure a deal delaying the imposition of tariffs for at least a month.
That prompted Opposition Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to call on Trudeau to send military troops, helicopters and surveillance to the border — something that Gen. Jennie Carignan, Canadian Forces Chief of the Defence Staff, has said she was prepared to do.
Poilievre also called on Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) border agents “to patrol everywhere along the border, not just at official border crossings” and to hire at least 2,000 new CBSA agents to intercept illegal activity, such as crossers, drug and gun smuggling.
“We’ll keep drugs, terrorists and other threats out, and we’ll save trade with the United States,” he said in a press conference in Vancouver on Monday.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe also suggested there is a role for the military to play at the Canada-U.S. border.
“Right at the border crossing, it is the responsibility of the CBSA and the Government of Canada. And I would say that if they brought that under the military arm, we could have our military present there as well,” Moe told reporters on Monday.
Neither National Defence Minister Bill Blair’s office nor CBSA were immediately available to offer comment.
Trump has said the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are because of his concerns about illegal immigration and fentanyl entering the U.S. Canadian officials have consistently said less than one per cent of migrants and fentanyl entering the U.S. comes from Canada.
Over the past few weeks, a flurry of federal cabinet ministers have travelled to Washington to pitch Trump officials and Republican lawmakers on a six-year $1.3-billion border plan the federal government announced last fall in the wake of Trump’s threat.
Whether Canada and the U.S. can find a similar to way to avoid Trump slapping 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian imports and 10-per-cent on energy resources, which he signed into effect on Saturday, remains to be seen. The tariffs are set to take effect Tuesday.
On top of the fentanyl imports in his country, border security, the so-called “trade deficit” and Canadian protectionism in regards of dairy and poultry products, the U.S. president has added to his list of grievances the U.S. banks’ access to the Canadian market.
There are 16 U.S. based bank subsidiaries and branches with around $113 billion in assets currently operating in Canada, according to the Canadian Bankers Association.
“Canada is tough … They are very, very tough to do business with, and we can’t let them take advantage of the U.S.,” Trump said on Monday.
Trump reiterated that he wanted to see Canada becoming the U.S. 51st state — a comment he has made first as a joke but increasingly as a threat. He said that as a state, Canada wouldn’t be subject to any tariffs, but also recognized “it would be a long shot.”
“If people wanted to play the game right, it would be 100 per cent certain they’d become a state. But a lot of people don’t like to play the game because they don’t have a threshold of pain. And there would be some pain. But not a lot,” he said.
Poilievre immediately shot down the idea. “Canada is an independent country. We will never be the 51st state, and we will have a strong and independent country,” he said.
Poilievre, who was presenting his “Canada First” plan to respond to U.S. tariffs, said that Trump should in fact “be sending a big bouquet of flowers” to federal Liberals for killing energy projects that could have given Canada more access to different markets.
Monday marked the first time Trudeau and Trump had spoken since the president’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Starting after midnight Monday, U.S. tariffs of 25 per cent kick in on Canadian goods and 10 per cent on Canadian energy, as well as Canada’s first wave of retaliatory tariffs, launching both countries into a massive trade war.
Over the weekend, Trudeau announced Canada would be launching two phases of retaliatory tariffs. Tariffs on $30-billon worth of U.S. goods were set to take effect on Tuesday, Trudeau said, with the federal government looking to include another $125-billion worth of imported U.S. products, which would be subject to a 21-day consultation period to allow Canadian companies time to find alternatives.
Trudeau said on Saturday that Canada is not looking to escalate, “but we will stand up for Canada, Canadians and Canadian jobs.”
“We did not ask for this, but we will not back down.”
He said the government would be speaking with premiers about other ways to put pressure on the U.S., such as through the possible limiting of procurement opportunities and other measures related to critical minerals.
Several provinces, including Ontario and Quebec, have already announced plans to remove U.S. booze from the shelves of liquor stores.
British Columbia’s David Eby said that major firms in his province are in the process of redirecting their critical minerals and their energy products to markets outside of the United States to respond to tariff threat.
“This isn’t to punish the Americans, this is a response to tariffs. This is what B.C. firms will do and we will support them doing that to make sure we protect jobs,” he said.
On Sunday, Trudeau also convened a virtual meeting with opposition leaders to discuss the tariffs situation. He has so far rejected their calls to recall Parliament, which is suspended upon Trudeau’s request until March. 24.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said in a readout after the call that “the prime minister shared that it had become increasingly clear that there was no evidence or further actions on border security that would make any difference.”
“All of us spoke to that point and agreed,” May said.
Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for Poilievre, said in a statement that during the meeting, Poilievre “reiterated his call” for Trudeau to recall Parliament.
National Post
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