Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday American consumers will pay more whenever President Donald Trump decides to apply sweeping tariffs on Canadian products.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Thursday that he still plans to tariff Canada and Mexico at 25% rates starting as soon as Feb. 1. Trump previously threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he took office but the tariffs weren’t applied on day one.
Trudeau said if Trump does go forward “whether it be back on Jan. 20th, on Feb. 1st or Feb. 15th as a Valentines Day present, or on April 1st or whenever” Canada will respond with retaliatory tariffs and “prices for American consumers on just about everything will go up.”
“We don’t think he wants that,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa.
By targeting America’s second largest trading partner after Mexico, Trump risks upending the markets for autos, lumber and oil — all of which could carry over quickly to consumers.
The premier of oil-rich Alberta, Danielle Smith, said Americans in some states could pay more than a dollar per gallon more for gas if Trump puts the tariff on Canadian oil.
Despite Trump’s repeated claim that the U.S doesn’t need Canada, nearly a quarter of the oil America consumes per day comes from Canada.
America’s northern neighbor also has 34 critical minerals and metals that the U.S. is eager for and is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium.
“The U.S. should be working even more with Canada on our energy, on our critical minerals, on the goods they need to deliver the economic growth that Donald Trump has promised,” Trudeau said.
“That is our first choice. If they do move forward on tariffs we are ready to respond in a strong way but in a way … to figure out how to get them removed as soon as possible.”
Canada is looking at putting retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, toilets and some steel products if Trump follows through with his threat. When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, Canada announced billions of dollars in new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum
“Everything is on the table.” Trudeau said. “It would be bad for Canada, but it would also be bad for American consumers.”
Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian dollars ($2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states.
Trudeau said Trump remains preoccupied with the border. The U.S. president told reporters at the White House earlier this week that, in his opinion, the amount of fentanyl coming through Canada and Mexico is “massive.”
“We have highlighted that less than one percent of illegal drugs coming into the United States, less than one percent of migrants going into the United States come from Canada but we’re still investing over a billion dollars and strengthening our border,” Trudeau said.
Trump continues to erroneously cast the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — a natural resource-rich nation that provides the U.S. with commodities like oil — as a subsidy. Trump incorrectly claims the U.S. has a “$200 billion” trade deficit.
“We’re not going to have that anymore. We can’t do that,” Trump said in a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum. “You can always become a state, and if you’re a state, we don’t have a deficit. We won’t have to tariff you.”
