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Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government has a plan and is prepared to defend Canada’s national economic interest after Donald Trump was elected as U.S. president for the second time.
“We have a plan, we’re going to be executing that plan,” Freeland said during a press conference in Ottawa on Wednesday. “Our government is absolutely prepared to continue to defend and also to advance the national economic interest.”
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Trump’s protectionist platform is viewed by many as a threat to the Canadian economy. One of Trump’s proposed trade policies includes a 10-per-cent across-the-board tariff on all imports into the United States. A report published by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce last month argued the resulting trade war from such a proposal could result in a 1.5 per cent decline in real incomes in Canada, in addition to losses in productivity on both sides of the border.
Freeland would not say whether Canada expected to be exempt from such trade measures. Freeland also provided few specifics on the plan for a second Trump administration. However, she did say her government has maintained its line of communication with the Trump team and has stayed in touch with Trump’s former trade representative, Robert Lighthizer.
“I actually did speak to Ambassador Lighthizer a few times yesterday, I’ve stayed in touch with him,” she said.
Freeland noted there is some alignment when it comes to trade with China. Canada shares Lighthizer’s concerns surrounding Chinese overcapacity in certain industries, highlighting Ottawa’s recent decision to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum, and a 100-per-cent tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, in line with the United States. However, Trump’s platform goes a step further and includes a potential 60-per-cent tariff on Chinese goods.
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“It means our fundamental manufacturing industries are fully in line with our American partners,” she said.
The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) is also up for renewal in 2026, with Trump already having expressed an interest in renegotiating the agreement he signed in 2018. Freeland was foreign affairs minister at the time and was heavily involved in those negotiations.
“At the end of the day, the reason we were successful in getting a win-win outcome in the NAFTA negotiations, was because the Canada-U.S. economic relationship is beneficial to both parties,” she said. “The fact is, Canada is different from the rest of the world when it comes to the U.S.”
Nearly $3.6 billion worth of services and goods crossed the U.S.-Canada border every day in 2023, according to estimates from the Government of Canada. Freeland noted Canada remains the number one export market for the U.S., something that can work to our advantage.
“That gives us leverage, that gives us some real power in that relationship,” she said.
• Email: jgowling@postmedia.com
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