Canada’s response would be immediate if President Donald Trump decides to move forward with his threats to impose tariffs on Canadian products.
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“We must take President Trump at his word. Threats should always be taken seriously. Therefore, we must be ready,” declared Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly during a virtual press briefing held on Friday.
According to information from -this response would result in counter-tariffs amounting to up to $37 billion.
“Listen, tariffs are countermeasures, they are one of the tools that we can use,” said Louise Blais, diplomat in residence at the Brian Mulroney Graduate School of International Studies at Laval University.
We must pay attention to the statements that President-elect Donald Trump will make over the weekend in order to have the correct information on what he will announce on the day he is sworn in, January 20.
“Is it universal? Is it targeted? Is it on a scale?”, she mentioned during an interview with LCN.
-“I think today, probably, the decisions are being finalized. The documents must be written. So, they also need to look for a mechanism to put this in place,” she continued.
It will be important to take “a deep breath” and keep a calm approach to the looming tariff fight, according to Ms. Blais.
“You absolutely must not appear to be panicking. That’s the problem. So, for the moment, we are not in a very good balance of power,” she said.
Remember that the future American administration plans to impose tariffs of up to 25% on Canadian products as soon as President Donald Trump takes office. These threats pushed all Canadian prime ministers to come together to plan a response.
Quebec Prime Minister François Legault, who estimated job losses in the province at 100,000 if these tariffs were applied, said he was open to attacking aluminum and the electricity it sends to the states. -United in retaliation.
“We will not announce anything until there are tariffs put in place by the Trump administration. Now, if Mr. Trump implements tariffs, nothing should be excluded, including energy, electricity,” he declared.
Watch the full interview in the video above
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