Relief. That was the reaction from most Albertans to U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to back away from a promise to impose sweeping new tariffs on Canadian imports during his first day in office.
Instead, an incoming White House official said Trump plans to sign an executive order launching an investigation into alleged unfair trade practices by Canada, Mexico and China.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who is in Washington for inauguration day, issued a statement on social media, calling Trump’s decision “implied acknowledgement that this is a complex and delicate issue with serious implications,” and a mutually beneficial one that “will save hundreds of thousands of Canadian and American jobs.”
“It’s now up to us to demonstrate why that would harm the American consumer more than it would help, and I think we have a really good case to make,” said Smith.
“We buy more American products than anyone else in the world. When you take out energy, we buy more U.S. products and services than they buy from us. So we actually are the ones with the trade deficit.”
However, Smith says there is more Canada can do, specifically on border security and increasing defence spending.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith meeting with Marco Rubio, nominee for U.S. Secretary of State, and Peter Hegseth, nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense, during her visit to Washington during Trump’s inauguration.
Credit X/@ABDanielleSmith
While the Calgary Chamber of Commerce characterizes Trump’s decision to back away from tariffs as “good news,” vice-president Ruhee Ismail-Teja said it’s “not a signal to Canadian governments to take their foot off the gas.”
Instead, it gives Canadian politicians and business owners more time to make their case and hopefully help Americans understand how mutually beneficial our trade relationship is, Ismail-Teja said.
“As much as it would hurt Canada,” said Ismail-Teja, “the U.S. would also feel a considerable amount of inflationary pressure and issues related to their economy should they proceed with tariffs.”
While Canada may have escaped sweeping new tariffs on exports to the U.S. for now, Richard Masson, from the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy says there’s more work to be done.
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“There’s more work to be done, but Canada, I think, overall is a fair trader,” said Richard Masson, executive fellow with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.
“If anything, we send them oil at a discounted price because they are our only customer and often, when we have more production than pipeline space, they get big, big discounts,” said Masson. “So hopefully people will be able to see that and recognize an integrated market is better for everybody and tariffs don’t help them.”
Most of the refineries in the U.S. Midwest are reliant on the type of crude oil that Alberta produces, said Masson, and replacing that wouldn’t be easy — “so they want our oil.”
However, in an effort to also increase American domestic oil production, Trump followed through on his campaign rallying cry of “drill baby drill” and declared a national energy emergency on his first day in office.
Its a policy that creates a bit of a dichotomy for Canadian politicians and industry.
“So this is going to be one of the debates that Canada’s going to have to have in the wake of all of this, is how do we want to work with the Americans as part of an integrated market,” said Masson, but also, “do we want to make sure we have better access to international markets so we’re not beholden to the U.S. and put in the position that we were in the last few weeks.”
For Alberta’s premier, the answer is both: supplying the U.S. with more oil and building more pipelines so Alberta can supply other provinces and other countries with more oil and gas.
Despite her refusal to sign onto a “Team Canada” agreement with Ottawa and the other provinces, who have threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs on American imports, she now proposes working “together as Team Canada to develop more markets internationally and also continue the strength of the relationship with the United States.”
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is calling on Ottawa and the other provinces to use a ‘Team Canada’ approach to developing stronger trade ties with the U.S. while at the same time also expanding trade with other countries.
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The Calgary Chamber of Commerce anticipates the next few days will set the tone for the future of the Canada-U.S. trading relationship under the new president.
“It can be seen as a good sign that Canada was not mentioned and isn’t under threat relative to Trump’s inauguration speech,” said Ismail-Teja. “However, it can also be seen as as a challenge and that we’re not top of mind for him.
“I think this week we’ll have a sense of where exactly his feelings on Canada are, just how much he values that relationship.”