
Canadian Conservatives Address Tariffs Talks
Canadian agricultural commodity and export associations are attempting to make a case for a tariff-free trade environment now that a new U.S. government agency called the External Revenue Service is to be responsible for collecting tariffs on imported goods into the U.S. The Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump’s tariff tactic is intended to kickstart talks on the USMCA before its scheduled review next year. But Trump denied that report, saying he is responding to the ‘massive’ flows of fentanyl and migrants into the U.S. Trump has said that U.S. tariff action will probably begin on February 1st, but that action has nothing to do with the USMCA. It has to do, in part, with Canada’s drug and immigration failures.
“Canada, very much so. They’ve allowed millions and millions of people to come into our country that shouldn’t be here," Trump said during a recent interview. "They could have stopped them, and they didn’t. The fentanyl coming through Canada is massive.”
However, appearing as a guest on an American podcast, former Canadian conservative prime minister Stephen Harper says that President Trump’s assertions about huge amounts of drugs and hordes of immigrants flowing into the U.S. from Canada are simply a false premise.
“There is no migrant flow happening from Canada to the United States in any significant numbers," Harper noted. "Drugs, guns, crime, most of those things flow north, not south. A lot flows into Canada from the United States than flows out of it.”
On his first day in office, President Trump signed a sweeping executive order on trade policy that included a directive to the U.S. Trade Representative to begin public consultations to prepare for USMCA’s review and to assess that agreement’s impact on workers and agricultural producers. He set an April 1st deadline for that report.
While the Canadian Liberal government said it is ready to retaliate to any tariff measures implemented by Washington D.C., it could be a Conservative government that implements those measures. Canada will have a federal election this year, and a vast majority of Canadians believe the Conservatives will win that election.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, is widely believed to be Canada’s next prime minister. And he says that, in his view, the U.S. enjoys far too good a deal from Canada’s energy sector, which, he says, is the category that makes up Canada’s trade surplus with the U.S.
“Our entire trade surplus is due to oil and gas. We export at enormous discounts to market price," Poilievre said. "Depending on the time, we sell a barrel of oil to the Americans for 10%-30% or 40% cheaper than the world price. If President Trump wants to make America richer, the last thing he should want to do is block the under-priced Canadian energy from going into his marketplace.”
Later in that American podcast, Poilievre’s longtime political mentor, Stephen Harper, suggested that Canada should consider selling its oil and gas to other countries.
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