Alberta government’s diplomatic efforts to avert tariffs a high-wire act, political watchers say

Premier Danielle Smith travelled south this weekend for a face-to-face meeting with incoming U.S president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.

Political watchers say Premier Danielle Smith is walking a tightrope, diplomatically pleading Alberta’s case to an incoming U.S. president threatening to annex Canada without throwing the rest of the country under the bus.

Smith travelled south this weekend for a face-to-face meeting with incoming U.S president Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. It was an effort to stave off Trump’s promised 25 per cent levy on all Canadian goods – including Alberta’s mainstay oil and gas exports.

Trump is promising the tariffs shortly after he takes office Monday. He has also suggested the tariffs are part of a larger strategy to annex Canada through “economic force.” That has sparked a national debate over the best course of action for Canada.

University of Calgary political scientist Lisa Young said all Canadian politicians are faced with the choice between trying to reason with Trump or stand up and risk a trade war.

Young said Smith runs the risk of undermining Canada’s negotiating stance as a whole if she pursues a special carve-out for the oil and gas sector.

Smith getting an exemption would make her a hero in Alberta, but elsewhere, Canadians might see it as a betrayal, because Canada would lose some of its ability to demonstrate to Americans how tariffs hurt them, Young said.

“So it’s really a tightrope that Alberta is walking on this,” said Young, who conceded that it could be Smith is trying to save the rest of Canada from tariffs by emphasizing the importance of the energy sector.

With Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promising to resign and his Liberal party in a leadership race, provincial premiers have been stepping up to fill the leadership void.