Close X
Monday, March 17, 2025
ADVT 
National

Ministers call on Washington lawmakers to scrap tariff threat completely

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 04 Feb, 2025 03:54 PM
  • Ministers call on Washington lawmakers to scrap tariff threat completely

A month-long pause on Donald Trump's tariff threat has done little to ease Canadian concerns as key cabinet ministers return to Washington hoping to push the devastating duties off the table permanently.

"I do think there are opportunities for conversations to enable us actually to move away from the conversation about tariffs," Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Tuesday.

Wilkinson is making the case among key Republicans for a Canada-U. S. energy and resource alliance — part of an effort to align with U.S. President Donald Trump's goal of making America energy dominant.

He is looking to meet with newly appointed Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — the former North Dakota governor now in charge of Trump's energy agenda — and other Republicans in Washington this week.

The temporary tariff reprieve has prevented — at least until March 4 — a continental trade war that economists on both sides of the border warned would raise prices.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne and Defence Minister Bill Blair also travelled to the United States capital on Tuesday.

"The Canada-U. S. relationship has withstood the greatest tests of time, and it deserves our every effort to protect it," Champagne said in a social media post.

Wilkinson said he remains hopeful the tariff threat is a "blip" before a swift return to normal relations between the two nations. He also said there is a new and growing sense that this country's dependence on trade with the U.S. could become a point of "vulnerability."

Wilkinson said that if the tariff threats continue for an extended time, Canadians will have to look at building the infrastructure required to export elsewhere. 

The pause on damaging duties brought little comfort to many in Canada's labour and business communities, who say the lingering threat slows investment and causes market insecurity.

The Business Council of Canada said that with the delay on the tariffs "much uncertainty remains." President and CEO Goldy Hyder said it's clear that Canada must "act with urgency to improve our long-term economic prospects."

On Saturday, Trump signed an order to impose 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports, with a lower 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy. The president linked the import taxes to what he calls the illegal flow of people and fentanyl across the border.

Trump put off the Mexican tariffs for nearly a month after a call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum around midday on Monday. 

Trump also spoke with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Monday morning and after a second call mid-afternoon, Trudeau announced the tariffs on Canada would be paused in a post on social media that also outlined his government's $1.3 billion plan to address the president's stated concerns about border security. Trudeau's government unveiled most of that plan in December.

Trudeau also said that nearly 10,000 front-line personnel "are and will" be protecting Canada's border, and announced $200 million in new initiatives to address fentanyl trafficking, including a new "fentanyl czar."

In a social media post, Trump said the tariffs will be off the table for 30 days to see if the two countries can reach a "final economic deal."

Experts have suggested Trump's tariffs are a negotiating tactic meant to rattle Canada and Mexico ahead of a mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. The trilateral pact was negotiated to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement under the first Trump administration.

Canada's ability to enhance Trump's energy agenda can turn the conversation away from duties back to bilateral co-operation through the trade pact, Wilkinson said.

Any conversations about collaboration have to come with an agreement that the tariffs won't come back, he added.

"At the end of the day, we need to actually have a pathway that allows us to deepen the collaboration, if we agree that that's a good thing, without thinking six months from now we are back into the same conversation that we were in the last few days," he said during a fireside chat at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center in Washington Tuesday.

Quebec Premier François Legault complained recently that "what's annoying" about dealing with Trump "is that there's always this sword hanging over our heads." 

He said he believes the events of the last few days demonstrate the importance of diversifying markets and limiting Canadian dependence on American exports.

MORE National ARTICLES

Canada presses on with trade diversification strategy in face of Trump's threats

Canada presses on with trade diversification strategy in face of Trump's threats
As U.S. President Donald Trump continues to hold out the threat of steep tariffs on Canadian imports, the federal trade minister is citing a new deal with Ecuador as proof that its trade diversification strategy is working. Mary Ng told The Canadian Press the free-trade agreement with Ecuador, the sixth-largest economy in South America, is the 16th such deal signed since the government launched its trade diversification push eight years ago.

Canada presses on with trade diversification strategy in face of Trump's threats

Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, dead at 88

Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, dead at 88
The Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the world’s Ismaili Muslims, has died at the age of 88. A post on social media from the Aga Khan Development Network says he passed away peacefully today in Lisbon, surrounded by his family.

Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Ismaili Muslims, dead at 88

No Canadian soldiers assigned to border enforcement, minister says

No Canadian soldiers assigned to border enforcement, minister says
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty says there is no plan to send Canadian soldiers to the Canada-U.S. border. In a bid to head off crippling tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada has committed to tasking 10,000 frontline personnel with protecting the border.

No Canadian soldiers assigned to border enforcement, minister says

Gang leader and another man charged after shooting in Fort Nelson, B.C.

Gang leader and another man charged after shooting in Fort Nelson, B.C.
A man well known to police and identified in the courts as a gang leader faces charges in connection with a shooting in Fort Nelson, B.C.  Police say Jarrod Bacon has been charged with aggravated assault, while John Chasse faces an assault charge in connection with the shooting that sent one person to hospital last Wednesday.

Gang leader and another man charged after shooting in Fort Nelson, B.C.

B.C. human rights commissioner wants study of police in schools after board's firing

B.C. human rights commissioner wants study of police in schools after board's firing
British Columbia's human rights commissioner says the provincial government has effectively made police liaison programs mandatory in schools with its firing of the Greater Victoria school board, while failing to provide a factual basis for the decision. Kasari Govender says in a letter to Education Minister Lisa Beare and Public Safety Minister Gary Begg that failure to fund research into the matter is contrary to the government's human rights obligations "and undermines its stated values to combat racism."

B.C. human rights commissioner wants study of police in schools after board's firing

Man injured in avalanche on Vancouver Island, taken by rescue helicopter to hospital

Man injured in avalanche on Vancouver Island, taken by rescue helicopter to hospital
A man has been seriously injured in an avalanche on Vancouver Island and required the rescue helicopter to fly him directly to hospital for treatment. Metro Vancouver-based North Shore Rescue says in a social media post that the man was partially buried in a slide in the backcountry near the Mount Cain ski area on northern Vancouver Island on Sunday. 

Man injured in avalanche on Vancouver Island, taken by rescue helicopter to hospital

PrevNext