Ottawa/CMEDIA: Reportedly hundreds of people gathered Friday to a Canada-US Economic summit hosted by Canadian government’s newly created advisory council on Canada-U.S. relations, and includes business and labour leaders, Indigenous leaders and public policy experts.
While discussing Canada’s economy in the face of its rapidly changing relationship with the US, its largest trading partner, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that we need to start thinking both tactically as well as strategically.
Although Canadians need to be deliberate about how to work with the United States to avoid tariffs, Trudeau said that they should be ready to respond and to support Canadians in case US tariffs against Canada take effect in the future.
U.S. President Donald Trump has put on hold until March 4 his plan to impose sweeping 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, with a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy.
Trump said in a social media post last week that the next month will determine “whether or not a final Economic deal with Canada can be structured.”
His administration also has ordered a study of the United States’ trading relationship with Canada, due by April 1.
Due to the Trump administration’s volatility and with the looming tariff threat many business and labour leaders are urging the federal government to look for ways to strengthen internal trade and to look for other trading partners.
Trudeau responded that part of the strategic thinking needed to make the economy resilient, Canadians need to have genuine free trade in Canada, but trade with the U.S. and the rest of the world is also essential and cannot be ignored.
Before the summit moved into group discussions, it began with a question-and-answer session with Trudeau and the advisory council.
Flavio Volpe, a member of the advisory council and president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association, said Thursday he hopes the summit is just the start of something bigger and added,
Canada is facing “the most serious industrial threat we’ve ever faced” and the moment calls for a collective effort.
Speaking to reporters before the summit on Friday, Volpe said he’s encouraged by the fact of the group being “very cross-partisan.”
“It’s a very diverse group of leaders from different industries across the country that almost have nothing to do with each other, other than the currency that they trade in and the country that they live in,” he said.
Representatives from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Global Automakers of Canada, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Canadian Manufacturing and Exporters were also in attendance, as was National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak.
Drew Dilkins, the mayor of Windsor, Ont., said that aligning the facts is more important.
Border Mayors Alliance was established by border community mayors to advocate on behalf of the cities that have the most to lose from U.S. tariffs.
Dilkins took part in a meeting of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors Caucus in Ottawa on Thursday, where tariffs and trade with the U.S. were the only topics.
Dennis Darby, president and CEO of Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, said he intends to tell the government that if tariffs are imposed, businesses and workers will need help in the form of direct government relief, tax relief or wage subsidies.
He also said that structural problems within the Canadian economy need to be addressed in facilitating moving of goods between provinces — recently has been undermined by a complicated regulatory environment — and to ensure Canada takes better advantage of its trade deals with other countries.
Trudeau told business leaders at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto that Trump’s threat to annex Canada “is a real thing.”
After delivering an opening address to the summit Friday morning outlining the key issues facing the country when it comes to Canada’s trading relationship with the U.S., Trudeau made the remarks to business leaders and added,
“Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing. In my conversations with him on…,” Trudeau said.
