Trudeau presents premiers with plan to address Trump's border concerns as tariff threat looms
Premier Ford says Ottawa’s plan is a ‘good start’ but Canada needs to ‘be ready to fight’
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Canada's premiers on Wednesday to discuss Ottawa's plan to address U.S. president-elect Donald Trump's concerns about the Canada-U.S. border.
This is the second time Trudeau has met with premiers since Trump threatened to hit Canada with steep tariffs last month — and the first meeting since the prime minister's dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
The president-elect said that on his first day back in office, he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop what he called an "invasion" of drugs, "in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens" into the U.S.
A senior source with knowledge of the virtual meeting said the prime minister outlined ways the federal government is planning to address some of Trump's concerns about the border.
Those measures include further restrictions on the chemical precursors that are used to make fentanyl and improving coordination between the RCMP and other police forces, the source said.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc — who was at the meetings with the premiers and the dinner with Trump — said Wednesday that details of the government's plan will be made public in "the coming days."
"We're going to incorporate many of the positive suggestions that the premiers made into finalizing our border plan and then, obviously, a priority will be to share details of this plan with the incoming Trump administration and with Canadians," he told reporters after the meeting with the premiers.
Trudeau's government is considering spending hundreds of millions of dollars to protect the Canada-U.S. border — possibly even more than $1 billion — in an attempt to allay Trump's concerns, sources have told CBC News and Radio-Canada.
LeBlanc has said previously that the government is looking at buying additional equipment to tighten up the border, including helicopters and drones.
The plan was missing some details but was otherwise well received by the premiers, a provincial source told CBC News.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford — currently the chair of the Council of the Federation — told reporters after the meeting that what he heard during the meeting was a "good start."
"There's one thing to have a plan. Now we have to implement it," he said.
Ford said the premiers asked for better information-sharing about tracing fentanyl and precursors, and more RCMP and CBSA officers to monitor the border.
While the flow of migrants and illegal drugs over the northern border is a fraction of what crosses over from Mexico, Trump is still concerned about what's coming from Canada — just as Canadian officials are alarmed by drugs and guns flowing north.
If Trump follows through on his tariff threat, it could have a massive impact on the Canadian economy.
The U.S. imported $614.3 billion worth of goods from Canada in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. More recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the U.S. imported about $435 billion in Canadian goods between January and September of this year.
A senior federal source has told CBC News that Ottawa is engaging with American businesses to make the case against tariffs to U.S. politicians.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was also at Wednesday's meeting, said she took suggestions from premiers on which products to target if retaliatory tariffs become necessary.
"Some premiers proactively identified products that their provinces produce and export to the United States — and which the U.S. relies on — and which should be considered as part of the Canadian response," she said.
Ford said Canada needs to be "ready to fight" and that Trump's tariffs are "100 per cent" coming.
"Folks, this is coming ... it's coming January 20th or 21st, and we need to be prepared. We need to stand as a country," he said.
Freeland wouldn't go as far as to say it's certain that Trump will follow through on his threat.
"During the NAFTA negotiations, I learned that it's important not to get ahead of ourselves and it is important never to answer hypothetical questions. I think we also learned that Canada needs to hope for the best and prepare for the worst," she said Wednesday.
Ford suggested that Canada could cut off energy supplies to the U.S. Canada sends a significant amount of oil, natural gas and electricity south of the border.
"We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy," he said Wednesday.
"I don't want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole."
Premiers pitching their case to Americans
Multiple premiers have been on a charm offensive, meeting with governors and other politicians south of the border.
At least two of Canada's premiers have appeared on U.S. network television to pitch their cases to an American audience.
Ford appeared on CNBC's Power Lunch on Wednesday afternoon and argued that Trump's proposed tariffs would hurt both Canadians and Americans.
"It's hurting the American people. It's hurting the Canadian people.Why the president [-elect] is doing this is beyond me," Ford told host Kelly Evans. Ford added that he would be pressuring Trudeau to ensure Trump's concerns about the border are addressed.
Ford has also made multiple appearances on Fox News in recent weeks and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has done an interview with Fox as well.
Ford's government also launched a multimillion-dollar American ad campaign touting economic and cultural ties between the province and the U.S.
On Wednesday, Ford urged the federal government to follow his lead and run its own ads south of the border.
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With files from Catharine Cullen, David Cochrane and Kate McKenna