Keystone decision expected soon

WASHINGTON • Donald Trump has suggested he will move quickly on Keystone XL after taking office, with the incoming president expected to reverse his predecessor’s ban on the Alberta-to-Texas oil pipeline.

The president-elect made the comments during a lengthy interview with Fox News on Sunday.

Trump brought up the topic of the pipeline himself, while being pressed on whether his fossil-fuel-friendly administration would remain in the Paris climate agreement.

Trump said he would make a decision on Paris soon — then raised the pipeline issue.

“The Keystone pipeline, you’re going to have a decision fairly quickly,” he said. “And you’ll see that.”

After years of political wrangling, President Barack Obama announced a little more than a year ago that he had denied a licence for the pipeline to cross the border. The pipeline would have carried almost one-quarter of Canada’s oil exports to the U.S. It was delayed by protests and court fights, which could be rekindled by any attempt to revive the project.

It’s little surprise that Trump would favour the project — it was part of his platform. He’s also reportedly considering naming the CEO of ExxonMobil as his secretary of state, who would be in charge of the file.

Oilman Rex Tillerson has long supported the project. He’s also expressed a preference for carbon taxes as his favoured form of climate policy, over cap-and-trade systems.

Tillerson’s rumoured appointment drew considerable controversy over the weekend, mostly due to his yearslong personal relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

In other comments during the Fox interview, Trump disparaged the F-35 fighterjet program, of which Canada is a part. As countries like Canada debate their participation in the program, the incoming commanderin-chief blasted it as an example of wasteful Washington cronyism.

“Look at the F-35 program with the money, the hundreds of billions of dollars,” he said.

“It’s out of control. And the people that are making these deals for the government, they should never be allowed to go to work for these companies. You know, they make a deal like that and two or three years later, you see them working for these companies that made the deal.”

Trump also suggested America’s long-standing one-China policy, favouring national unity, could be revisited. He indicated it might become leverage in negotiations with China on other issues.

“I don’t know why we have to be bound by a oneChina policy unless we make a deal with China having to do with other things, including trade,” Trump said, listing currency devaluation, border taxes and hostile behaviour in the South China Sea as irritants.