François Legault presented, on Wednesday, a series of reprisals planned to respond to President Trump’s threats of customs tariffs. Quebec content requirements, tax on maple syrup and call for a boycott of snowbirds: everything is on the table.
The CAQ Prime Minister called on Quebecers to “stick together” after a virtual meeting with Justin Trudeau and his provincial counterparts.
“Things will be turbulent in the coming months,” he declared, emphasizing that Quebec’s economy will change radically if the American president goes ahead with his threats.
“There are certain products, probably, that we will no longer export to the United States,” he says.
Quebec is also at risk of experiencing a recession, concedes the Prime Minister, while recalling that Quebec has “big assets” to face it, including its natural resources and its specialized industries.
But above all, the provinces and Ottawa have prepared their own list of sanctions to force the American administration to back down.
At the top of the list, François Legault proposes imposing a percentage of local content on Americans who would like to obtain contracts with us, as the United States already does with the Buy American and Buy America laws.
“The United States can require up to 70% American content. We don’t have the equivalent, points out the Prime Minister. If Mr. Trump decides not to respect the free trade agreement, I think that is something that we should look at.”
Maple syrup
Like the day before, François Legault also mentioned “counter-tariffs” on American products, such as Florida oranges.
“That would mean that the products we import from the United States would cost more. This presents the opportunity to replace some of these products” with a Quebec equivalent, he said.
-Quebec has already doubled its greenhouse farming capacity since the pandemic, he argues.
Even goods intended for export could be targeted by these retaliatory measures. “Maple syrup mostly comes from here. So the Americans will have a choice: they will pay 25% more, if there is a 25% tariff, or they will eat syrup which is not good,” Mr. Legault said.
Snowbirds
The CAQ leader did not go as far on Wednesday as his British Columbia counterpart, who invited his fellow citizens to avoid the United States for their next vacation, if Donald Trump’s threats materialize.
But François Legault points out that our Quebec snowbirds actively participate in the economy of Florida, home of the new Republican president.
“I don’t want to rule anything out. […] But for now, we have no tariffs from Mr. Trump,” he said, without calling for a boycott of the sunny peninsula.
Of course, the measures adopted will depend on the height of the tariffs imposed by the new American administration and the sectors targeted.
Moreover, François Legault does not share the approach proposed by Justin Trudeau of a “dollars for dollars” response. “There are several ways to retaliate,” he emphasizes. It’s not necessarily the same number of dollars.”
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