Freeland warns Washington
Foreign minister says Canada would ‘strongly oppose’ any potential tariffs
OTTAWA — Canada would be “strongly opposed” to any new tariffs on Canadian exports to the U.S., Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Wednesday after meeting with her American counterpart in the Trump administration.
She also made a point, she said, to tell U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, among others with whom she met, that while Canada would not yet take a position on a proposed “border adjustment tax,” Canada would “respond appropriately” if Washington imposed new tariffs.
“I had a very strong sense from everyone I spoke with of the appreciation of the strong relationship between Canada and the United States,” Freeland said in a phone call with Canadian reporters after a day of meetings in the U.S. capital.
“I really felt I was pushing on an open door with everyone I spoke to. Everyone was familiar with Canada and familiar with our economic relationship. That it is a very balanced trading relationship, that it is mutually beneficial.”
Freeland said her conversations also dealt with “how integrated the economies are and how integrated our supply chains are.”
A tax plan proposed by Republicans would lower the corporate tax rate for U.S. companies from 35 per cent to 20 per cent. It would also impose a tax on imports from other countries, while encouraging exports of American-made goods — which some observers fear could harm Canada and its energy exports.
But Congress is full of diverging views, Freeland said.
“How (the tax plan) might work and what it might include, and whether tariffs might be a part of it, is very much all under discussion.
“I did make the point that Canada will have no position on the tax reform plan or the border adjustment tax idea until it is fullyformed and it is a concrete proposal. But I did make clear that we would be strongly opposed to any imposition of new tariffs between Canada and the United States, that we felt tariffs on exports would be mutually harmful.”
In discussions about the Canada-U.S. border, Freeland said some options were discussed to “make the border easier for trade,” including implementing a preclearance system for cargo.
On the potential renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, she said she has been meeting with stakeholders including the automotive industry and the softwood lumber industry to hear their concerns.
In the wake of a controversial ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries — still being challenged in the U.S. court system — Freeland said she emphasized to her American counterparts Canada’s openness to receiving immigrants and refugees who are Muslim.
And in a “substantive” discussion with Tillerson on Russia and Ukraine, she conveyed Canada’s “strong view” that Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea was illegal “and a threat to the international order,” she said.
Finance Minister Bill Morneau is scheduled for meetings Thursday with senior economic advisors to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway said in a television interview with CNN Tuesday she believed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau would visit Trump as soon as next week, and White House press secretary Sean Spicer hinted Wednesday he would have details on a Trudeau visit soon, but neither the White House nor the Prime Minister’s Office has yet confirmed a timeline for any inperson meeting between the two leaders.