
Trump’s agenda poses risks for Canada far beyond tariffs
The president’s policies on energy and DEI could drain Canada of its wealth and talent
The tariffs are coming. Not today, but perhaps on Feb. 1. That’s what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Monday, after his inaugural address.
Trump’s speech made scant mention of tariffs, only that he would be establishing an “external revenue service” that would “tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”
The comment came later, when Trump spoke to reporters in the Oval Office. “We’re thinking in terms of 25 per cent (tariffs) on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people … and fentanyl to come in,” he said. “I think we’ll do it Feb. 1.”
Cue the response from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At his cabinet retreat in Montebello, Que., Trudeau said, “Our response will be robust and rapid and measured, but very strong. The goal will be to get those tariffs off as quickly as possible.” He reiterated that Ottawa’s goal is still to avoid tariffs, but if they come, “everything is on the table.”
But Trump’s agenda is also important on two other fronts, which have received less attention than the tariff threat but are critically important to the Canadian economy: the environment and energy, along with diversity equity and inclusion (DEI), both of which are receiving a radical overhaul under the new administration.
Trump didn’t just pause the energy transition, he reversed it by scrapping Joe Biden’s Green New Deal and pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement. Trump said he wants to ramp up U.S. oil production and export it overseas. The availability of cheap oil could stall the global energy transition by giving other countries little incentive to decarbonize. And this could be bad news for Canada.
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