ottawa –
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland is trying to restore unity, assemble a united front, and coordinate a plan to deal with the threat posed by the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
She spends her days speaking with heads of major industries, various prime ministers, and meeting with members of political parties across the political spectrum, echoing the government’s efforts the last time President Trump threatened Canada’s interests. It reflects.
“We need to take a true Team Canada approach on all of these issues,” the prime minister said at a press conference Friday after the first meeting of a reinvigorated Cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations. Probably.”
She and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly stood in front of television cameras and tried to reassure the public that Canada is ready and the nation can survive another ordeal with President Trump in the Oval Office. .
The commission was created by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after Trump first took office in 2017. It was on hiatus during President Joe Biden’s term, but was reinstated just over 24 hours after Trump’s victory was confirmed.
Speaking in Vancouver on Friday, Trudeau said his government’s job is to make sure President Trump and his allies understand that policies that protect American jobs can be achieved through partnership with Canada.
“The Canada-U.S. Commission is a sign that we are ready to tackle some of the new challenges that the new administration in the United States will undoubtedly pose to countries around the world,” he said. We are also prepared to deal with it.” Said.
Even though Trump’s second term in office is still more than two months away, the Cabinet has wasted no time in working with both feet.
Freeland’s schedule is jam-packed with meetings set up after Trump’s victory with leaders of auto parts manufacturers, steel companies, Canada’s largest banks and major pension funds. Saturday is Alberta’s oil and gas sector, next week is organized labor.
When Canada was embroiled in the Trump 1.0 trade renegotiation, former Conservative Party leader Rona Ambrose and the late Brian Brian came under fire from a self-styled pro-deal president who advocated a break-up of trade with Canada.・Mr. Mulroney was asked to play an important role. NAFTA.
Jolie said she has been in contact with “many key influencers within the Trump administration” and U.S. senators to advocate for Canada’s interests.
The day after Election Day, Washington, Wednesday, November 6, 2024, at the U.S. Capitol Building behind the Peace Memorial. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Canada-U.S. Committee is made up of senior ministers coordinating Canada’s new U.S. strategy, including Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Immigration Minister Mark Miller, with trade and borders becoming two of the biggest concerns. There is.
Last year, Trump campaigned on imposing flat tariffs on U.S. imports and deporting millions of illegal immigrants. That has raised concerns that his second term in the White House could hurt Canada’s economy and trigger a sudden influx of migrants at the border.
Freeland said he was not yet ready to reveal anything about the plans being discussed by the cabinet committee.
Trudeau said the message to the United States is that imposing tariffs on Canada would be counterproductive. He said the fact that the two countries are completely intertwined in supply chains means that “tariffs and border expansion between Canada and the United States will inevitably hurt American workers. The same is true.”
The last time Ottawa fought President Trump in a major trade war was about seven years ago over steel and aluminum tariffs, and Freeland said Canada ultimately won.
She bragged about talking on the phone with Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former U.S. trade representative, and said this week that she communicated with him “really frequently” and met in person over the summer.
financial times newspaper The newspaper reported Friday that Lighthizer has been asked to return to the role in Trump’s new Cabinet.
Mr. Freeland frequently corresponded with Mr. Lighthizer over President Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs and the renegotiation of NAFTA, which produced a revised trilateral trade agreement, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Freeland now points to this as a reason to feel relieved about Canada’s current position.
“What’s important about that whole experience is that at the end of the day, Canada and the United States agreed that it didn’t make sense to impose these tariffs on both countries. And it was Ambassador Lighthizer who I consulted with. That’s the deal. “
Freeland also noted that he met with the steel industry in Hamilton to try to reassure anxious Canadians.
She said she was a Trump supporter. Lorenco GonsalvesThe owner of Cleveland-Cliffs, the American company that acquired Stelco, expressed “real confidence” that the Canada-U.S. trade relationship will endure.
“Think about this for a moment: A key supporter of President Trump and an important U.S. steel producer has decided to acquire a Canadian steel manufacturer that is heavily dependent on Canada’s steel exports to the United States. ”
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
