(Ottawa) The former chief trading negotiator of Ottawa Steve Verheul believes that Alberta undermines Canada’s attempts to prevent the United States from imposing damaging prices-a measure which, according to American President Donald Trump, could lead Canada to bankrupt state status.
Posted at 6:01 p.m.
Dylan Robertson
Canadian press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined most of the prime ministers to agree that all sectors of the Canadian economy could be deployed in the fight against the plan of US President Donald Trump to impose 25 % prices on imports from from Canada.
The Prime Minister of Alberta, Danielle Smith, said that Canada should not threaten the United States with retorting or energy export reduction prices, and should rather focus on finding the search for ‘Common ground.
Earlier this week, Mr. Verheul awarded the successful renegotiation of ALENA to Canada during the first Trump administration-which led to the Canada-States Agreement (ACEUM)-in part to the coherent message from provinces, industry and Ottawa.
Photo David Kawai, Canadian Press Archives
Steve Verheul, former chief commercial negotiator of Ottawa
“As they all concerted, the messages were the same and it was much easier to do this,” he told the Toronto Empire Club on Tuesday.
“There is a very strong feeling of unity between all the Prime Ministers at this stage – with the exception of Alberta. »»
Verheul invited the various leaders in the country to try to convince the government of Alberta “to join also. Because the fact that Alberta has taken a different direction in recent weeks has considerably weakened Canada’s position. »»
For the moment, Canada is in “damage control” mode, he said.
-The office of Mme Smith has not yet responded to a request for comments.
Since Mr. Verheul made his comments on Tuesday, other Prime Ministers went back to the federal position concerning customs tariffs.
On Wednesday, Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Moe said “having a problem” with the taxation of energy exports. The same day, the Prime Minister of Quebec, François Legault, suggested that these measures should only be done with the consent of the provinces.
On Friday, President Trump once again said that Canada should become an American state, adding that “it’s a bit crazy” to suggest that the United States needs Canadian imports.
Mr. Trump said he told Mr. Trudeau earlier that the United States subsidized Canada to the tune of billions of dollars, and said Prime Minister Trudeau would have said that, if these subsidies ceased, Canada would become “a nation in bankruptcy ”.
The American president insisted that Canada would have “better medical coverage” and “would not have to worry about the army” as an American state, adding that Canada was “very mean to us on the commercial level ”.
Experts have said that the commercial imbalance between Canada and the United States was largely from Canada energy exports. They also say that it is wrong to consider this as a subsidy – especially when Mr. Trump offers very irregular estimates of his magnitude.
Asked about the words of the American president, the Minister of Defense Bill Blair said that his “unhappy rhetoric” was offensive and that “Canada will never be a bankrupt state”.
The candidate for the leadership of the Liberal Party Chrystia Freeland, who helped orient the renegotiations of Alena, assured that Canada would “absolutely not” become a bankrupt state if the customs tariffs threatened by Mr. Trump entered into force .
With information from Kyle Duggan, the Canadian press
