Toronto/CMEDIA: Amid tariff threats by U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada’s premiers headed to the White House for a meeting with senior advisers.
A news release from the Council of the Federation (COF) representing all provincial and territorial premiers says due to the White House meeting, all other engagements were cancelled for Wednesday afternoon.Leading a COF Mission to Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2025.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Chair of the Council of the Federation, was joined by all thirteen Premiers in the Mission, making it the first time ever that all of Canada’s Premiers have jointly undertaken an international visit.
During meetings with key American political leaders, Canadian Premiers addressed shared issues such as jobs and the economy, energy, critical mineral supply chains, border security and immigration to advocate for maintaining strong Canada-U.S. relations.
Committed to ree and fair trade, Premiers advocated against tariffs that threaten Canada’s deeply integrated and mutually beneficial economic relationships.
Canada and the U.S. form one of the largest integrated markets in the world, with more than C$3.5 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.
The U.S. sells more goods and services to Canada than it sells to China, Japan, and Germany combined.
Being worth more than a trillion dollars annually, Canada-US economic partnership supports millions of jobs on both sides of the border.
Premiers said they will continue to work collaboratively to ensure U.S. leaders and policymakers are fully aware of the benefits of the unparalleled North American partnership.
This is the fifth Council of the Federation mission to Washington, D.C.
The premiers’ visit to Washington is a joint mission to meet with Republicans in hopes of swaying the president away from plans to slap Canada with devastating duties.
The president signed executive orders Monday to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States, including Canadian products, starting March 12.
Having previously threatened 25 percent across-the-board tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports, with a lower 10 percent levy on Canadian energy, Trump delayed those levies until at least March 4 in response to border security commitments from both countries.
