Trump said he would slap those punitive tariffs on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has agreed to Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s request to hold a First Ministers’ Meeting on Wednesday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian exports.
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Trudeau said on his way to a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he had a “good call” with Trump the night before.
“We obviously talked about laying out the facts, (talked) 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,” he said.
“This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that’s what we’ll do,” he added.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said that the threat of tariffs was already high on the government’s radar as Trump had floated the idea of slapping 10 per cent tariffs. But she would not say if the government was taken by surprise by 25 per cent tariffs.
Joly said she has already had many conversations with “key American leaders” and would continue to “operate diplomatically.” But she would not go into more detail as to what she has been telling those stakeholders and if it involves threats of retaliatory tariffs.
“I really think that sometimes it’s better to do so in private settings,” she said.
Ford later revealed the meeting will be taking place Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Federal ministers attempted to stay positive in the light of Trump’s latest tariff threat.
“We’ve had challenges before, we’ll have challenges again, but they are a longstanding ally and we’re going to do what we can to work through kinds of challenges to ensure we protect the interests of Canadians,” said Housing Minister Sean Fraser.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said the government still has two months to convince the incoming U.S. administration to change their minds.
“We’re already in contact with our American partners to make sure to highlight the exceptional nature of the relationship with Canada because one needs to know that a decision like this will have an important economic impact in the United States as well.”
The government also rejected any suggestion that illegal border crossings from Canada into the United States can be compared to Mexico.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the number of Canada’s illegal border crossings are “the equivalent, on a yearly basis, of a significant weekend at the Mexico border.”
More details to follow…
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