Trump, G7: stakes high for Liberals
As one week packed with major economic and political developments comes to a close, another begins for the Trudeau government.
Over a span of just a few days, the Liberals announced a plan to potentially spend $4.5 billion to buy a controversial pipeline, watched the chances of a quick NAFTA renegotiation sputter and joined other G7 allies in moving closer to a punishing tariff war with the United States.
The political stakes are high. When Canadians go to the polls next year, the significant events of this tight time window could weigh heavily on their decisions at the ballot box.
In the coming week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will also have to navigate an increasingly complex relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump when Canada hosts the G7 leaders’ summit. It will mark Trump’s first official visit to Canada as president.
Trump’s presence at the summit could produce fireworks after Washington angered the rest of the alliance by imposing hefty steel and aluminum tariffs last week. The G7 leaders have also exchanged tough words over the issue, with Trudeau saying Sunday that calling Canada a national security threat to the United States is “quite frankly insulting.”
When asked about the significance of the past week for the Liberals’ future electoral prospects, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in an interview that the government believes it got elected because people wanted it to make decisions to help Canadians feel more successful.
“What we’ve shown this week is that when faced with challenges that were going to not be in Canadians’ best interests, that we’ll take action,” said Morneau, the point person for Trudeau on many of these major files.
“I think Canadians will judge us based on our actions and I think those actions are clearly intended to defend Canadians’ economic interests.”
Morneau spoke to The Canadian Press shortly after the highly unusual conclusion Saturday of the G7 finance ministers’ meeting in the British Columbia resort town of Whistler.
The club of developed nations used the “chair’s summary” of the event to deliver a rare public rebuke of one of their own allies, with a joint condemnation of Trump’s decision to apply the steel and aluminum tariffs.
In response to the U.S. move, Canada and the European Union have threatened to retaliate with tariffs of their own, prompting France’s finance minister to say the “tense and tough” Whistler meetings were much more of a “G6 plus one” than a G7.
Trump used national security concerns to justify imposing tariffs, which Morneau has called “absurd.” Morneau also warns the tariff fight will destroy jobs in Canada and the U.S., and drive up consumer prices.
“We need to demonstrate that as a sovereign nation we’re in charge of our affairs and we can’t accept that someone damages our economy for reasons that make no sense,” said Morneau, who insisted he doesn’t know the American motivation behind the tariffs.
Mary Harrison told