From a cold bench somewhere in Washington D.C., Alberta Premier Danielle Smith gave an interview to CTV News.
Ms. Smith says that the Trump administration’s pause on tariffs offers an opportunity for Canada to support her strategy of ensuring Republicans know how “mutually beneficial” trade is to each country.
One has to work pretty hard to think Donald J. Trump or anyone aligned with him cares about what benefits Canada, and, frankly, I’m not going to do the heavy lifting for any of them.
I’m crossing my fingers that she isn’t just making a stronger case for annexation so they can just have it all without the “benefitting another country” part.
We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first. Our sovereignty will be reclaimed.
From Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, January 20, 2025.
Asked multiple times what she’s hearing from the U.S. lawmakers she’s been rubbing elbows with, the Premier responds with what she’s been saying to them.
In fact, the lack of information she’s sharing from her travels so far only seems to be growing in “lack”.
She is sharing lots of photos of herself with Republicans, and appears to be having a great time.
Ms. Smith says she thinks Canada needs to take the President’s concerns about border security and defence spending seriously.
She doesn’t mention Mr. Trump’s concern about using tariffs to fight a trade imbalance, or that he’s said he wants to use economic pressure to annex our country.
I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.
For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources. The American Dream will soon be back and thriving like never before.
The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons.
The inflation crisis was caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices and that is why today I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.
From Donald Trump’s inauguration speech; January 20, 2025
She’s doesn’t address Mr. Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency, or how his “drill, baby, drill” promise might affect Alberta’s number one export to the U.S..
No, for some reason, Ms. Smith only wants to take two of the President’s “concerns” seriously; border security and defence spending.
In fairness, she hasn’t been in Canada much this year. Perhaps she’s saving the important conversations for her return as her dance card is still quite full.
Of course, it’s not just a singular Alberta-based industry that stands to lose out to Mr. Trump’s attacks as the President also took aim at the auto sector in Premier Doug Ford’s province of Ontario as well.
With my actions today, we will end the Green New Deal and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers.
In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice. We will build automobiles in America again at a rate that nobody could have dreamt possible just a few years ago and thank you to the autoworkers of our nation for your inspiring vote of confidence. We did tremendously with their vote.
From Donald Trump’s inauguration speech; January 20, 2025
After the ceremony, Mr. Trump made his way back to the White House where he began signing a long list of executive orders.
Here at home, the laudatory “thought pieces” praising Ms. Smith’s immersion into the Republican social scene — eagerly published in response to Mr. Trump not applying tariffs on Canadian exports during his speech — had to be revised after the President told reporters in the Oval Office that tariffs will come “February 1”. He likes the date so much, he says it twice, “February 1.”
Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.
The threat hurts Canadian business confidence, even in Alberta. It makes Canadians anxious and prickly, even in Alberta. Apparently, it also makes some regress to a time when throwing mud at Ottawa got more love.
Except, the threat isn’t coming from Ottawa, or the dreaded Prime Minister.
The threat is coming from Donald Trump.
The threat is coming from the fact that we don’t know if Republicans in the senate will see an opportunity to cut out the “middleman” of having to deal with Canada and decide to support “economic pressure”. Sure, it’s short term pain, but it would get them access to all of the goods and services they want in the end.
I don’t think the Premier is doing any good with her “we all benefit” boosterism because it’s the same argument that has been coming from outside the province a majority of my life and Alberta has rejected the notion again, and again, and again.
Alberta doesn’t get treated fairly. Alberta subsidizes the rest of Canada. Alberta will never accept Ottawa’s authority.
If Albertans thought having a Trudeau as Prime Minister was bad for Alberta’s oil and gas industry, they really haven’t thought through what Mr. Trump holding oil and gas hostage for a better per barrel price would be like.
Trump wants America to be “treated fairly”. Trump doesn’t want America to “subsidize” Canada. Trump is willing to freeze out allies because America has everything it needs to stand strong on its own.
I’d love to appreciate the irony of this moment but my country is facing a threat to its economy, and its sovereignty, and Albertans are surrounded by a bunch of hacks who identify so strongly with the message that they’ve yet to figure out they’re the marks.
We all are.
Try to keep up.
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Well said, as always.
Question for you, though:
"For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources."
This sounds like he expects Canadians/Canada to pay the tariffs. Is there a word for tariffs that are paid by the exporter? Is it called, the-exporters-raise-their-prices-by-the-cost-of-the-tariff or ... ? I get that this sounds silly but, I wonder if there's a huge disconnect between what he expects to happen and what the GoC expects to happen.
A good reminder that the country creating this situation and the leader doing it are the USA and Donald Trump respectively. I know I myself have lost sight of that sometimes, and it seems that often we have started fighting each other as opposed to continuing to identify the source of the problem. I am sure that this side effect of our internal turmoil is also a feature, not a bug of the intended policy. I would imagine that some level of uncertainty will exist far past February 1 as well.