Trudeau on Trump Tariff Threats

his first target is Canada. He is attempting to wage an economic war because he wants to economically take over Canada so that, hey, he has his fifty first state. Well, mister Trump, that's probably not going to happen. You may not even well, we're not gonna say that it isn't gonna happen. There. There are very many people who especially

do not like American politics. They find it entertaining in Canada, but they don't really like it, and in some cases they don't really understand it because it is decentralized and Canada has a centralized system with parliament that they're looking for more unification and We're going to actually hear from Ontario premiere Doug Ford as he talks about we need more unification, more unification of products, more standardizations, things like that.

And that's okay because that's the type of republic that Canada is. That's the type of type of of of who Canada is as as a country. So we're gonna hear a lot about the tariffs and how to combat against the tariffs. And we have two premiers that are sitting on opposite ends of the cycle. We have Doug Ford that is, hey, we got we got a bully there. We gotta we gotta match him, stand toe to toe

and match him blow for blow. And there is an economic strength that you're gonna hear from David Ebe as he talks from BC about some of the economic strength as he stands at the Port of Vancouver and what that port actually means and billions of dollars in commerce from and through Canada. So maybe mister Ford has a legitimate thing to say. Then we're gonna we're also at the same time, we're gonna be hearing from Danielle Smith. Well, daniel Smith she has she has the tar sands sitting

in her province. It's like their major production. I'm not going to call it energy, because calling it energy is a lie. Energy itself is free and we don't have to buy it. Energy comes straight from the sun directly to us. We don't have to buy it. We are going to talk about though, it's fuel and fossil fuels,

and she has a large steak in fossil fuels. And we've heard right in the inauguration speech as mister Trump said, drill baby, drill, that they are sitting on a shit ton of oil to begin with, that they have their own petroleum. They don't need to buy it from us, which means that the long pipeline that runs from the Alberta Tar Sans straight to Texas could be cut off. Well, if that gets cut off, Danielle Smith has a point that her her, her province cannot be supported on Canadian

dollars alone. They need that revenue to come back, and if they're hit with a twenty five percent tariff, it's going to hit that province hard. She has a legitimate point and legitimate reasons for saying what she's saying, so she wants a more diplomatic approach. There are many critics out there that are saying that Danielle Smith just wants to completely sell out to the United States. I don't

think that's exactly true. I think what it is is the situation that she's trying to protect Alberta's stake Albertist citizens and residents from a loss of income. Well, think about that, and anybody else who was in charge of it will want to do the same thing. So there's there's a lot of of of ground between the two sides, and there are premiers that are going to sit along that way. It isn't it isn't just all the all but one premiere is sitting on the idea of fight

back with tariffs. They're saying, fight back with with terrors. But hey, exclude this product because this is our lifeblood. A so so, And we're gonna hear some of that from from David eb as he talks about the products that actually leave British Columbia and head into Washington in the lines of of course softwood lumber that is used for construction and the forest industries as well as the

port industries that imports. It's a major port in North America that a lot of products have to go through the Port of Vancouver before they can even travel into Washington because they don't have as big a port. There is no big port like the Port of Vancouver anywhere else on the Pacific until maybe you hit there's in San Diego. So there's a lot of ground that Canadian premiers can and fight back against Donald Trump and slap

the bully down before he even gets started. So, and there's also talks about shoring up borders and things like that that the let's face it, after nine to eleven, when it was seen that there was a group of terrorists who made it through the Canadian US border to go to wage attacks, those borders have been shored up. It isn't. It isn't freeing easy. It isn't. There is no threat from the Canadian US border into the Nine States. He's mister Trump is making that up because hey, he's

mister Trump. He can't make it up. That's what he does. He makes stories up and then sells them. That's how he got into office. He made a story up and he sold it and he got into office. Most of what he said wasn't even true. The story that he tells about the attack on the Capitol when mister Biden won the presidency four years ago is a story. It's made up. It was his supporters that attacked. We know that.

We know that to be true. And we also know that because of his actions, because he's pardoned them, he's lifted them from their criminal behavior. He tells stories, he

sells them and that's how he gained support. And on the topic of the new government in in Lebanon, we have a couple of statements from our partner in in Lebanon as he discusses some of what he thinks the main issues are with the new government that has taken taken office in in Lebanon, and it is of course being backed by different groups through the United Nations because they are boasting not to not to to go along with with the Hespitala. So from from Lebanon, our partners

in leban On uh with Samra Bayon. Okay, the role of the president is is ceremonial in Lebanon best like that of a governor general, powerless, reserved for the Marna Knight Christians. The Prime minister position is reserved for the Sunni Muslims. And the new guy seems to be untainted and untainted entity, but one that is backed up by the United States and has irked the Hesbellah that is suffering greatly and it's loss to veto power due to

the most recent war with Israel. The speaker of the parliament has to be U she Ashia, a Muslim, and the same guy has in that role has been in power for more than thirty years. In most recent parliamentary elections, in spite of them being usually rigged, got away with

quite a scathe because of politically independent movement. There is rising in in Lebanon, but to be back to the point, Lebanon is very corrupt country and is ruled by ex warlords and criminals that cause the civil war between nineteen seventy five in nineteen ninety. They are part of a ulkadocracy that has grown rich and fat plunged us into an economic catastrophe that we are in justling for for power amongst themselves. Yes, we have new leadership, but no, no, uh.

The the power of balance has shifted significantly, uh beyond the status quo. So a lot of of what he's saying is we need to actually sit tight and look and see what is happening in Lebanon and keep a close eye to see how human rights and things developed in that country and how it's being seen on the world, on the world spectrum, so that it it isn't seen as just a place where terrors grow up. So all right, so why don't we move forward starting here in Canada.

We're going to hear from mister Ford and mister h and Daniel Smith, and we're here with what the federal cabinet has to say. We justin should know about the tariffs.

ENCAM and cam Fortress and can Fortress. I apologize and ship the more energy, more critical minerals, but we also have to look internally. As I said, we should all be looking in the mirror and we need to look at internal trade that could pick up the GDP. I've heard numbers anywhere from fifty to one hundred billion dollars. We have to speed up approvals. We're hosting the world's largest mining show p DAC just in a little while and people from all over the world are going to

come here. But it's unacceptable it's taking ten to fifteen years to get things moving. It's unacceptable that the Ring of Fire, the largest find and critical minerals in the world, that is taking years to get approvals. It's unacceptable that we don't have Energy East Pipeline coming out to Ontario and out to New Brunswick and again the Northern Gateway going out through BC until we can ship our crude oil around the world. We have to stop being so

dependent on the US. You know, we saw this during the pandemic when President Trump cut us off and ninety five's and I said, never again. Well, Ontario have to rely on any country in the world, and we built a supply chain, built it up within a couple of months. So this is what we need to do, and we need to move forward as quickly as possible. But we're ready for these tariffs. On February first.

We need to target whereas going to impact Americans the most. We need to target the Republican held states and the Senate and the Congress and the governors. That's what we need to do because we don't want this. No one wants this, and including a lot of the Republicans and

Democrats that I've talked to. A matter of fact, I have yet to find one citizen of the US, one elected official that says, yeah, I agree, we need to target Canada anything, but that and the rest of the world knows their next The.

if people play such a huge part of this. If they're calling their congress person or calling their senator and the phone's ringing off the hook with their governor too, Believe me, that works. That gets in the year of the President.

we we were gonna put a list together. I've asked one of the premiers to put a list together and start moving moving forward.

made in Ontario products, buy them. Make sure that we send a message to the big retailers that have revenues of one hundred and forty seven billion and that's Costco, Soby's, Walmart, Metro and lab Laws. Send the message buy Canadian products on shore. Canadian products are.

Our best approach now would be to focus on a diplomasting and refrain from talk of any kind of threat of retaliatory tariffs. We think that we have a very positive story, very positive story to tell in Canada. We think that we should be talking about addressing the trade deficit by how we might be able to have more

cross border trade in goods and services. The point I've been making is that if you take energy out of the mix, Canada actually buys more US goods and services then the Americans buy from US about fifty eight billion dollars according to a National Bank survey. We can always look at ways we could buy more, whether it's military equipment, whether it is the infrastructure for more electricity gas turbines, transformers, or whether it's AI data center technology and other products.

Number Three, I think we do need to double down on border security. It's quite clear from the executive order around the southern border that the issue of illegal fentanyl and gangs and migrants is top of mind for this presidency, and we want to make sure that Canada seem to be a partner in border security. I think there's been some good measures that have taken that have been announced, and we have to execute on those. We also have to have a major acceleration of Canada's two percent of

GDP NATO commitment. As you've begun to see, the incoming administration is now talking about a much higher level of NATO spending, and so the fact that Canada isn't even at two percent is something that is going to continue to be a trade irritant. If we want to demonstrate to the Americans that we are a reliable partner in energy security, having an accelerated plan to get to at

least the two percent is going to be vital. We also have to crack down on all the immigration streams and loopholes that permit individuals who are hostile to Canada

and the United States from entering the country. Anytime there are issues of a Canadian causing trouble in America, that is notice noted by the administration, and so we have to make sure once again that we're not exacerbating, and if we want to have a genuine partnership on national security and energy security, the federal government has to repeal all of the hostile to energy policies, the clean electricity regulations, the emissions cap, which we know as a production cap,

net zero vehicle mandate, which is set to take place in January of twenty twenty six, and to work in genuine partnership to reach the North America to reach the US goal of energy dominance. I believe that the Americans can't get there without Canada. The Americans consume twenty one million barrels a day of oil, they produce thirteen million barrels a day, and they have to get the balance

from somewhere. Our particular brand of heavy oil is perfect for their refineries, and there are very many great places to get it from Venezuela, Iran, Iraq. We think we've got a very strong case to make for more pipeline

access to the United States. And I guess finally, I'd say, if we want to stop being so reliant on a single trading partner, we've got to take down internal trade barriers between Canadian provinces, start looking at how we can do major nation building projects to our east and west coast, whether it's Northern Gateway getting restarted in British Columbia or

Energy East Conversations getting started off the East coast. That's really the way that through those kinds of major infrastructure projects that we can start diversifying our customer base around the world. And so we've got to have a bit of our own discussion internally about how we're going to address that in the long term.

British Columbia to Canada. Obviously, right now, the situation we find ourselves in is one where there is no new normal in terms of our trade relationship with the United States. We have a president that is threatening catastrophic tariffs for both American families and Canadian families against Canadian goods, and the consequences for that. For British Columbia would be quite

significant and for many people, catastrophic. For many American families as well, they'll see higher prices for goods things like housing, electricity, and gas of the pump. For our province, the tariffs mean potentially the loss of tens of billions of dollars more than one hundred thousand jobs. It is a big deal for British Columbia. And despite it being a big deal for our province, our province is one of the

less affected provinces across the country. We're putting on our team Canada Jerseys right now to stand with Canadians right across this country, from coast to coast to coast, to stand up to these tariff threats. It's moments like these where you have a choice. You can surrender and give up, or you can stand up. And for British Columbia, we're going to stand up. We're going to respond to tariffs.

And keep in mind, this is not a fight that we wanted, it's not a fight that we picked, and in fact, we think this is going to hurt Americans as badly as it does Canadians. But we're going to stand up. We're going to support federal efforts to respond with targeted tariffs, to make sure that the Americans understand that we will not surrender. We will stand up for jobs, we will stand up for families, we will stand up

for people in British Columbia, but right across Canada. To make sure the Americans are very clear that Canada is not for sale. Now we will respond in kind and they will feel it. I think it's important to underline for British Columbians who are feeling anxious right now, particularly those that are in trade exposed industries, to know that your government is working hard for you. We have a three part plan to respond to this tariff threat. First

of all, just that respond. We're supporting the federal government in direct responses targeted tariffs at Republican districts. To make sure that the party that is bringing these tariffs to us understands why trade increases prosperity in both of our countries. To make sure that we're standing strong with Canadians right

across the country. In addition, we're strengthening our economy. Today I was at the First Nation's Leadership Gathering talking with indigenous leaders about the importance of growing our economy, how we're all working together to make sure our province grows and prosperous. And it's the same with industry we're establishing.

And I want to thank those members of the business community, the indigenous community, the labor community that are joining us in a task force on Trade and Economic Security for the Province of British Columbia that will be co shared by Tamrav Wormen from YVR, Jonathan Price from Tech and Bridget Anderson from the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade to make sure that we're coordinating at a provincial level with companies,

with labor, with indigenous leadership. So we're responding as a province united against these tariffs to strengthen our economy, to expand our economic growth even in this time of threat, and to make sure that we don't stay in this position of being so dependent on the United States. As I said, what President Trump has done has let us know that a partner that we've had for many, many years, that we trust, that we rely on, that's like family

for us, can no longer be relied on. And I for one, will not allow British Columbia to stay in a position of being dependent on a partner that we can't count on, which leads me to our third part

of our response, which is diversification. We're going to be working with the federal government as well as on our own account to ensure that we're deepening and expanding our trade relationships with other countries around the world, countries that are also facing tariff threats and other threats from the United States. It gives us all the more reason to work together to deepen our relationships and to diversify away from the United States. I know this is a scary

time for a lot of people. If you work in an industry where we sell stuff to the United States, where we buy things from the United States, you're feeling anxious right now. But I can tell you that everybody in this province, that Canadians from coast to coast to coast, are standing with you, and we're all going to work together to protect you and your families and your jobs, to ensure that there is growth and prosperity, and that we don't allow these tariffs to threaten what's precious to you.

in the world. Relation Canadas DC need collaboration is permide cred his opportunity rich prosperiti, du Pian Premimane, Monsieur Trump on a nigosive commercialid farcino relacion decreed Uncle Peleus des monzent. We heard the President's comments yesterday and the directive he is issued to examine the trade relationship between Canada and the United States while exploring the possibility of tariffs, but we remain confident in the facts. Canadian energy powers American

manufacturing businesses and homes. Of America's top five trading partners, Canada is the only one with whom the United States runs a trade surplus in manufacturing, and Canada buys more goods made by Americans than China, Japan, and Germany combined. On top of that, President Trump said that he wants to usher in a golden age for the United States that will require more steel and aluminum, more critical minerals, more reliable and affordable energy, more of everything to run

the US economy full steam ahead. Canada has all those resources and we stand at the ready to work with the United States to create a booming and secure North American economy. The alternative for them would be more resources from Russia, China or Venezuela. Canada is a safe, secure and reliable partner in an uncertain world Si Ganga Gangnaire.

President Trump also repeated his concerns about the border. While less than one percent of fentanyl and illegal immigrants that enter the United States come from Canada, our government has already acted to address the concerns raised by the President about border security with an over one billion dollar comprehensive border plan. We are already working collaboratively to keep our

citizens safe on both sides of the border. Of course, if the President does choose to proceed with tariffs on Canada, Canada will respond and everything is on the table. Working in unison with Team Canadas as Team Canada, with business leaders, organized labor, civil society, indigenous leaders and premiers from coast to coast to coast, we are prepared for every possible scenario.

In fact, just last night I spoke to Premier Ford in his capacity as Chair of the Council of the Federation, and he reiterated his unwavering commitment on behalf of Canadian premiers to working all together. This is an important and challenging moment for Canada and for Canadians, and we know there will be many such moments through all of it. I want to be clear that we have Canadians backs.

Candentrepriz no triconemi in natresuvrenti. We will protect our national interest while we protect the most successful economic and security relationship the world has ever seen. I am my cabinet will continue to work with leaders across the country who've stepped up to unite in defense of Canadian workers, Canadian businesses, Canadian sovereignty, and that is precisely what we will continue to focus on today during this cabinet retreat. Thank you,

Merci de Risi. With that, I'm looking forward to your questions.

the future. And Canada has all that in an extraordinarily reliable and close partner. We have lots we can do together. We will be there to emphasize that we should be doing more together their art herafs. We are ready to respond and defend Canadian interest, but we will continue to remain steady in these times of uncertainty. Monsieur Trumpeter negotiat

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