Canada has ‘not received an assurance’ it can avoid Trump tariffs, despite presenting border plan: ambassador

Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. discusses the need for ‘measured’, non-retaliatory negotiations in dealing with Trump’s threat of tariffs.

Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. says Donald Trump’s incoming administration hasn’t made any promises that Canada’s new border plan will help avoid the significant tariffs the U.S. president-elect has threatened to impose.

In an interview with CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Wednesday, when asked whether the tariffs are certainly coming or whether they can be avoided, Kirsten Hillman wasn’t sure.

“We don’t know,” Hillman said. “We’ve done some really great things on the border, which is what the incoming administration asked of us, and they’ve given us very good feedback on that. I know that that plan has been presented to the president, but we have not received an assurance.

“So we’re going to have to wait and see,” she added.

The ambassador’s comments came after the first in-person meeting between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers in nearly two years, convened as Canadian officials at both the provincial and federal level grapple with how best to address Trump’s tariff threat.

Hillman also attended the meeting, as did members of Trudeau’s cabinet, including Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly.

Trump has threatened to impose blanket 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports as one of his first of “many” executive orders, as soon as he’s back in the White House. Initially using the flow of illegal migrants and drugs over the border as reason for imposing the punishing tariffs, Trump has since shifted his rhetoric to praising the use of tariffs on their own merit, and as a way to address the U.S. trade deficit with Canada.

“What I would say to Canadians, we just need to try and not jump the gun, not get over our skis,” Hillman told Kapelos. “Let’s see what happens, let’s respond in a unified and firm way, and not escalate, but be strong.

Hillman said Canada’s job in the upcoming days and weeks will be to “change the risk-benefit calculation” for Trump in using tariffs as a policy tool he believes will generate revenue.

“It’s actually going to hit to their economy,” Hillman said, adding the Canadian government will then have to “go through each one of (Trump’s) potential motivations” for the tariffs, including the border.

In response to Trump’s early threats, the Canadian government earmarked $1.3 billion in its fall economic statement to spend on beefing up border security.

As part of those pledged funds, Canada’s public safety and immigration ministers laid out new security measures Wednesday morning, including two new helicopters and 60 new drones to monitor the border.

“We’ve taken really strong action on the border,” Hillman said. “I know that the border measures that we took were discussed among the Republican senators during our meeting with the president, so that is a good thing, and they’re quite happy.”

In a joint press conference following the more-than four-hour meeting on Wednesday — during which the premiers and prime minister discussed possible responses to Trump’s tariffs — the Canadian officials said they’ll wait to announce any possible retaliatory measures until the president-elect actually follows through on his threat.

They have said, however, that nothing is off the table in terms of possible response.