Danielle Smith warns Trump's tariffs are coming and will include oil
Canadians should be prepared to face U.S. tariffs once Donald Trump assumes the presidency next week, with no exemptions for oil, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith warned after meeting the president-elect in Florida.
The conservative leader of Canada’s main oil-producing province met with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort over the weekend. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in an interview on MSNBC that Canada will respond with counter-tariffs against the U.S. if Trump follows through on his threat to impose a 25 per cent levy on Canadian goods.
“We do need to be prepared that they are likely to come in on Jan. 20,” Smith said at a news conference on Monday. “I haven’t seen anything that suggests that he’s changing course.”
Canadian heavy crude prices for March weakened with the discount to the U.S. benchmark widening to about US$14.50 a barrel from about US$13.60 on Friday, according to traders and brokers.
Trump has given different reasons for threatening tariffs on Canada. Initially, he said they would be imposed unless the country better secured its border with the U.S. — prompting Canada to announce a $1.3 billion plan to address his concerns. More recently, he has claimed Canada is “subsidized” by the U.S. due to a trade deficit and threatened to use “economic force” to make the country the 51st U.S. state.
More than half of U.S. crude imports come from Canada, most of it from Alberta, which sells it at a discount to West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark for American oil. Canada sends almost all of its oil exports of about 4 million barrels a day to the U.S. Only a single pipeline system in Western Canada runs to a Canadian port, allowing the country’s producers to ship their oil to other countries, avoiding the U.S.
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