Canada knows Trump would win a trade fight. It is preparing to retaliate anyway.
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The leader of Canada’s energy-rich province of Alberta, Danielle Smith, met with President-elect Donald Trump and his team at Mar-a-Lago, Fla., this past weekend to try to convince them that a trade war would be bad for both countries. She came home resigned to a fight.
A Trump trade war is coming, she warned, and Canada could suffer more. “We are the ones who [will be] really harmed if we try to get into any kind of prolonged trade and tariff war," she told reporters Monday. Canadian officials are increasingly convinced that Trump will follow through on his recent promises to quickly impose 25% across-the-board tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico soon after he takes office on Jan.
20., and are looking for ways to retaliate with their own tariffs. The prospect of a trade war has alarmed the political and economic leaders of trade-dependent Canada, which sends almost 80% of all its exports to the U.S., accounting for more than a fifth of Canada’s gross domestic product. Canadian government officials and cabinet ministers have said they are preparing a comprehensive list of imports that Canada would target, including products like orange juice from Florida, bourbon from Kentucky and steel from Pennsylvania.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, appearing on MSNBC Sunday, promised a “robust response" to Trump tariffs, while his foreign minister, Melanie Joly, on Friday warned the U.S. not to squeeze its second-largest trading partner, behind Mexico. “We need to show the American people and folks and people around Trump that there will be real consequences," said Joly.
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