The premier is calling Wednesday’s tariff announcement from the President of the United States a win for Canada, while the Alberta NDP leader says now is not the time for a victory lap.
Following President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement Wednesday afternoon where Canada was spared, Premier Danielle Smith issued a statement where she called the exclusion a win for not just Alberta but Canada as a whole.
The statement from Smith says it appears the U.S. is choosing to uphold the majority of the free trade agreement between the two countries, at least until the Canadian federal election is over, at which time a newly elected government can renegotiate CUSMA with the Trump administration.
“This is precisely what I have been advocating for from the U.S. administration for months,” Smith’s statement reads. “There is still work to be done, of course. Unfortunately, tariffs previously announced by the United States on Canadian automobiles, steel and aluminum have not been removed. The efforts of premiers and the federal government should therefore shift towards removing or significantly reducing these remaining tariffs as we go forward and ensuring affected workers across Canada are generously supported until the situation is resolved.”
NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi however had a different tone following Wednesday’s announcement, saying in a statement that while this is a reprieve compared to other countries across the globe, the president’s announcement will hurt a lot of people not just in the province but across the country.
“It will hurt a lot of workers. It will hurt a lot of small, medium and large businesses. It will cripple Canadian industries,” Nenshi’s statement reads. “Instead of a victory lap, it’s time for us to rededicate our efforts to ensure we are in a strong position going forward. That means Alberta must be working with Team Canada, including partnerships with the federal government and the other premiers to craft a thoughtful, rational, sharp strategy in the face of these tariffs.”
Both party leaders believe there is work to be done still, but what that work is looks rather different. Smith says she believes the worst of the tariff dispute is behind Canadians, but she is urging those involved in the country’s national advocacy to avoid “unnecessary escalation” while focusing on diplomacy and persuasion.
“Clearly, this strategy has been the most effective to this point.”
Nenshi hopes the country will move forward to become “a Canadian economic fortress of a 40-million-strong internal market,” and strategically towards ensuring Canada is more important to the U.S. than the U.S. is to Canada; while at the same time protecting Canadian workers and businesses who will be hurt by the U.S. tariffs.
“This is going to take commitment. It’s going to take purpose. And it’s going to take a government that can work with others to ensure we are building a stronger Alberta and a strong Canada.”
Nenshi disagrees with the premier’s recent “wins”
Ahead of the president’s announcement, the Alberta Premier flew down to Florida to take part in a private event she claims was a victory; which Nenshi says is a funny statement from the provincial leader. Nenshi says he disagrees with the premier calling taking four staffers to Florida for a 20-minute fireside chat at a private event where she “convinced Ben Shapiro to talk about tariffs” a win.
“He’s been talking about tariffs for months. He already thinks that tariffs are a bad idea because he thinks Canada should be annexed. Because he thinks Canada is a silly country that should be the 51st state,” Nenshi says.
In response to reports, Smith told those in attendance at the private event in Florida, “That would be like adding another California to your electoral system, and [you] would never have a Republican president in the White House again. So I would just caution you that it’s probably best for us to just stay friends, and friends should never move in together” Nenshi says the premier can’t keep her story straight.
’On the one hand, she’s encouraging foreign interference in elections by saying, we need to get rid of the Liberals, and on the other hand, telling Republican voters that, you know what, you’re never going to get conservative government in Canada. Like, she just says different things to different audiences, because there’s no coherence to what she’s saying. There’s no strategy, there’s no plan, and bluntly, she needs to stop making light of Canada’s sovereignty.”
Nenshi suggests the premier read the president’s book The Art of the Deal because in his opinion she is the worst negotiator he has ever seen.
“She plays poker with her cards face up and here’s the deal, when you look at Doug Ford, he knows how to bare his teeth in a negotiation. He knew how to say, hey, we’re going to cut off electricity to the US. He never did cut off electricity to the U.S., but he got a call from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick that day and sure enough, the next day, the tariffs were delayed by a month.”
“The premier, on the other hand, says, instead of showing my teeth, I’m just going to roll over for you.”
The plan for living in a tariff world
Nenshi says the NDP has a plan for living in a tariff world that focuses on building strong Canadian markets for selling goods and services, along with a strong domestic market that supports Canadians from coast to coast to coast. The plan also includes dealing with the United States in a strategic negotiation-based way the President can hear.
“The Prime Minister said he wouldn’t even meet with the President unless he stopped his 51st state talk…. The Prime Minister got some concessions and that changed. So let’s think about how to do that. Let’s think about how to be smart in terms of our export products to the United States and make sure they understand that in many ways, they need us more than we need them.”
As well Nenshi says it is important to focus on how to protect people from the tariffs because the unfortunate thing is there will be businesses and farms that will close because of these tariffs. Nenshi criticizes the premier for in his opinion not having a plan to help those who will be hurt by the decisions made south of the border.
“Let’s not be so defensive all the time. Let’s use our sword and our sword is people don’t want to go to the United States. They don’t want to go there for tourism. They don’t want to live there. They don’t want to do research there. So we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to recruit great professors, great doctors, great nurses to great universities like the University of Lethbridge and make sure that we’re saying Canada is a welcoming place.”
Nenshi says it is important to be able to tell people things will be different here but he believes that is hard to do when there is a member of Team Trump as the premier.
