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While President Donald Trump has pushed back his threat of tariffs until Feb. 1, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the responsibility for the tariffs, if they materialize, lies squarely with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
"We're very clear why we're in the situation we're in today. "It's 100 percent Justin Trudeau's fault, who made a speech a few weeks ago saying he thought it was an insult to women that Kamala Harris didn't win," Smith told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.
Smith said Canada is in trade negotiations with a new administration in the United States. She added that Trudeau continues to stir things up and damage relations between the two countries.
"If there is a failure, he will be held accountable for it, so I am counting the days until he leaves and we can start over." "There are 47 days left and I hope he does not continue to put the relationship on fire," Smith said.
Smith said she was doing everything she could to negotiate with the U.S. administration through her province's office in Washington. Mrs. Smith held the news conference from Washington, D.C., where she has met with several U.S. governors, senators and business leaders in recent days. She asked all premiers to do the same, as there will be a new prime minister in 47 days and possibly a new prime minister shortly after. Given the rapid pace of the federal government, the premiers will be the only consistent voices in the negotiations.
Although she is the prime minister, Smith has made it clear that she is negotiating for all Canadians and is not seeking a specific exemption for her province alone.
Smith's negotiations to keep Canada tariff-free have focused on the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries and the fact that the United States has a $58 billion trade surplus, excluding energy, as confirmed by the National Bank of Canada report.
A day before meeting with reporters, Smith issued a press release outlining six steps the country could take to avoid future tariffs. One suggestion was to restore immigration levels to those of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
Before Trump's inauguration, Smith reiterated his call for a federal election and proposed harnessing Canada's energy to address the threat.
Whether the tariffs are imposed on February 1 or April 1, as the order suggests, Smith reiterated his preference for a cooperative approach rather than a retaliatory one. It had previously refused to support a potential export tax on Alberta's energy. After a meeting between the country's premiers and the prime minister last Wednesday, Alberta abstained from signing the joint statement outlining proposed retaliatory measures to Trump's tariffs. All other premiers and Trudeau have signed it.
Trudeau recently said he supports harmonizing tariffs with those of the United States.
Ms. Smith explained that the Canadian economy is one-tenth the size of the United States and that Canada is much more dependent on its southern partner than vice versa.
"Trying to fight a tariff war without addressing the underlying issues is not going to work well for Canada," Smith said. Despite Ms. Smith's hesitation, an Ipsos poll conducted the same day as her news conference found that 82% of Canadians support imposing retaliatory tariffs.
However, she said she did not rule based on opinion polls.
"It's a relationship that's been going on for over 100 years." We have fights from time to time. "But you don't end a 100-year relationship over a temporary issue," Smith said. "You need to identify the issues that are causing the irritation and then address them one by one."
Instead of fighting, Smith wants to double oil production and pipeline capacity. She wants to get as many projects off the ground as possible during this four-year administration before a potential change in government and energy management leads to the abandonment of projects like what happened with Keystone XL.
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