Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe gave separate press conferences on Wednesday in which they refused to impose retaliatory tariffs against the United States on natural resources, in defiance of leftist Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trade war agenda.
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Smith and Moe said they had no problem with matching U.S. tariffs dollar-for-dollar, but they rejected Carney’s urge to escalate the trade war by applying punitive tariffs to vital natural resources in their provinces, such as oil and potash.
“What we, as a province, cannot and will not support is any kind of export tariff on our natural resources,” said Moe.
“I cannot think of a more disastrous policy decision than cutting off or taxing Alberta’s oil to the United States. Doing so would absolutely devastate the Canadian economy,” said Smith.
At his press conference, Moe said planned to match a 50-percent U.S. tariff on Canadian spirits, while Smith said she was not quite ready to go that far. Smith called for more diplomacy with the United States and suggested the citizens of both countries could persuade their leaders to come back to the negotiating table.
“It means being more Canadian – too friendly, kind and helpful to resist,” she said of her preferred strategy.
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