Former U.S. commerce secretary says he 'can't imagine' Trump would tax Canadian energy
CBC
As the world prepares for U.S. president-elect Donald Trump to impose a global tariff when he takes office in January, his former commerce secretary says he "can't imagine" Trump would want to tax Canadian energy.
Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor who served in Trump's cabinet from 2017 to 2021, said on Rosemary Barton Live that taxing Canadian energy would "raise [U.S.] costs and not help anything with more American jobs."
"We import a lot of energy from Canada," Ross told CBC's chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton on Sunday's episode. "I can't imagine the [president-elect] would want to tax that."
Since Trump's decisive election win, federal Canadian officials, provinces and industries have begun preparing for his second administration and one of his key campaign promises — a minimum 10 per cent global tariff.
Canadian officials received no reassurances in conversations with multiple Trump allies ahead of the U.S. election, CBC News learned from one official privy to the details of those talks.
Ontario and Alberta, two provinces that would be hit hard by Trump's proposed tariff, have begun taking steps to try to influence the new U.S. administration.
Earlier this week, Ontario Minister of Economic Development Vic Fedeli said the province will start a marketing push in January to remind the U.S. of the importance of bilateral trade.
James Rajotte, Alberta's representative to the United States, said on Rosemary Barton Live Sunday that the province is reaching out to American lawmakers to make sure "our position is heard on issues like tariffs on the energy sector [and] North American energy security."
"In terms of tariffs, we're obviously making the argument that we're interconnected…. Let's not put up any barriers between that energy trade," Rajotte told Barton.
The Alberta oil and gas sector accounted for $127 billion worth of trade last year with the U.S., according to ATB Financial. That represented 82 per cent of the province's total exports and made the U.S. its largest trading partner — by far.
Meanwhile, Canada's ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, said on Rosemary Barton Live that Canadian officials have "done a lot of work to lay the groundwork for a substantive conversation on this policy."
Hillman also said it's clear that "former president Trump believes in tariffs as a policy tool," and that Canada needs to "demonstrate through facts" that applying tariffs to Canadian goods would negatively affect U.S. jobs and revenue.
When asked how Canada should approach Trump to get him to listen to the country, Ross said Canada "has to realize that America does have a much sturdier set of principles and policies now than what it had before."
"I think [Trump] will listen. He was respectful of [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau. He respects other world leaders," Ross said.
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