Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has issued a scathing indictment of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports.
Smith, speaking at a news conference in Medicine Hat, Alberta on Wednesday, has also outlined a series of steps the provincial government will be taking to respond to Trump’s tariffs and to attempt to “cushion the blow” for Albertans.
“This economic attack on our country, combined with his continued talk of using economic force to facilitate the annexation of our country has broken trust between our two nations in a profound way,” said Smith.
“It is a betrayal of a deep and abiding friendship.”
Smith, who has in the past been criticized by Canadians for not always embracing a ‘Team Canada’ approach in fighting the tariffs, drew comparisons between Albertans and Americans, saying they both have, “a strong sense of identity and are fiercely independent.
“But let there be no mistake — as independent as we are, Albertans are strong and loyal Canadians.”
“Thousands of Albertans have lost their lives fighting alongside our fellow Canadians to secure and protect our freedoms and our country,” added Smith, “and we will not cast those freedoms and loyalties aside in response to the threat of economic pressure from a foreign government even an historically friendly one.”
The American tariffs, which went into effect on Tuesday, include a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports — with the exception of the big North American automakers, which were on Wednesday given a one-month reprieve — and a 10 per cent tariff on oil and gas imports from Canada.
On Wednesday, the Premier also announced a number of steps the government is taking in response to the tariffs, including:
- Cabinet has been directed to alter procurement practices to ensure the government of Alberta along government agencies, school boards, Crown corporations and all Alberta municipalities purchase all needed goods and services from Alberta companies, Canadian companies and from countries that Canada has a free trade agreement that is being honoured.
- No purchases of U.S. alcohol or video lottery terminals (VLTs) will be permitted through the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (AGLC) until further notice.
- The Alberta government will assist grocers and other retailers with labelling all Canadian products stores and ask them to voluntarily purchase future goods from from vendors in Alberta, Canada or countries that Canada has a free trade agreement with that is being honoured.
- The provincial government will augment these efforts with a ‘substantial’ advertising campaign to help Albertans more easily access information about where various products on store shelves are from.
- The provincial government will enter into free trade and labour mobility agreements with every province that is willing to do so with the goal to have free trade and free movement of Canadian workers right across the country.
Responding to the premier’s announcement of how the province is fighting back, Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi questioned why Smith waited a full day following the introduction of the tariffs to unveil her plans, which he said is based on steps other province’s like Manitoba and Ontario announced on Tuesday.
“They are welcome, they are the right thing to do, but they also show that the premier had no plan,” said Nenshi.
“For months she genuinely believed, if she promised Kevin O’Leary the sun and the moon and the stars for a golden ticket to Mar-A-Lago – she’d get 10 minutes with President Trump and she would convince him that his entire economic policy was wrong — of course that had no chance of success,” added Nenshi.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith poses with Donald Trump and businessman Kevin O’Leary during her visit with him in Florida, prior to his inauguration as the new U.S. President.
CREDIT: Danielle Smith / X
During her Wednesday conference, Smith also had a message for Albertans, saying, “the road ahead is very bumpy. If these tariffs continue for months or longer there will be significant job losses, there will be higher inflation and lost opportunity and there will be large budget deficits as our government seeks to cushion the blow.”
The U.S., said Smith, currently imports about $100 billion worth of oil from Alberta per year and has made a lot of Americans very wealthy.
But “until our U.S. friends come back to reality, we will focus on efforts and financial means to export one of the largest oil and gas deposits in the world elsewhere,” Smith added.
