Whatever talks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s has with U.S. President Donald Trump about the tariffs going into effect Tuesday shouldn’t be considered a negotiation, according to federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
“Canadians don’t expect the government of Canada to make concessions when we have a free trade agreement that President Trump signed in his last administration and said ‘It was great for the United States,” LeBlanc said Monday in an interview on Information Morning Moncton.
Over the weekend, Trump announced tariffs on Canadian imports of 25 per cent, except for energy exports, which face a 10 per cent tariff.
Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Trudeau announced counter-tariffs on thousands of U.S. products.
Trump has linked the U.S. tariffs to national security, specifically to illegal border crossings and fentanyl smuggling, LeBlanc said, but both of these are minimal at the Canadain-U.S. border.
“I’m confident that if the real pretext is border security, we have a very good story to tell the Americans,” he said.
N.B. plan expected today
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt is expected to announce what the province will do to react to the tariffs.
On Saturday, Holt said her team “will use every tool in our toolbox to defend and support New Brunswickers and put an end to these tariffs.”
While not officially announced, that would appear to include targeting American alcohol at provincial liquor stores.
Holt responded Saturday night to a request on the social media platform X to have N.B. Liquor suspend all orders of U.S. products with a succinct answer: “Done.”
51st state rhetoric
After the Canada’s retaliatory tariffs were announced, Trump again called for Canada to become the 51st state.
“We don’t need anything they have,” he said in a social media post.
“Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true! Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State.”
LeBlanc said while the rhetoric may have started as an attempt at humour around the dinner table, it’s no longer funny, it’s insulting.
“Canada is never going to be the 51st state.”
