Premier Smith facing criticism over diplomatic approach to U.S. tariffs

Smith has deemed Albertan oil and gas exports, crucial to U.S. refineries, off-limits as Ottawa responds with its own levies to what the premier has called “unjustified” tariffs by U.S. President Donald Trump.

A key Alberta labour leader said that by demanding some $120 billion in energy exports to the United States remain off the table as a bargaining chip, Smith is handicapping Canada’s side in the trade war.

“She has preemptively excluded and explicitly said that she’s not going to use the strongest cards that we have,” said Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour.

“That’s the opposite of the art of the deal that Donald Trump is talking about. It’s a recipe for being defeated at the negotiating table.”

Ontario’s Ford revealed Monday that his province was placing a 25 per cent surcharge on Ontario electricity that it sends to New York, Michigan and Minnesota in response to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

That extra import tax on Canadian energy only lasted a day.

Ford agreed Tuesday to suspend the surcharge after a top American official extended an “olive branch” in the form of a meeting in Washington to talk free trade.

“They understand how serious we are about the electricity and the tariffs, and rather than going back and forth and having threats to each other, we have both agreed that cooler heads prevail,” Ford said.

“We need to sit down and move this forward.”

Ford and the federal finance minister were invited Tuesday by the U.S. commerce secretary to discuss a renewal of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on trade ahead of Trump’s April 2 reciprocal tariff deadline.

It marked the first time there was an apparent will from the U.S. administration to negotiate a way out of the trade war.

Trump later called Ford a “very strong man,” and praised him for backing off the surcharge after the president threatened to shut down Ontario’s crucial auto industry earlier in the day.

“It would have been a very bad thing if he (kept it in place) and he’s not going to do that, so I respect that,” the president said.

Smith has pursued diplomacy to address Trump’s main irritants. Trump has pointed to Canada’s border security, military spending and trade imbalance — things Smith says can and should be rectified.

Several conservative opinion leaders in Alberta say Smith’s tactic of diplomacy first with Trump is the best way to appease the president and avoid a long-lasting trade war.

That approach has come under fire from critics who say it undermines Canada’s negotiating position and that a more confrontational approach is needed to counter an existential threat to Canada’s sovereignty.

Former Nova Scotia premier Stephen McNeil told CPAC that Ford’s strategy “is working” because it directly impacts the American public.

That will, in turn, “put pressure on the White House to talk to them about the lunacy of this policy,” said McNeil, who also serves on the prime minister’s Canada-U.S. relations council.

McGowan agreed.

“Doug Ford in Ontario has just demonstrated what’s possible by using his ‘Trump’ card, his strongest card, which is electricity exports, to get the U.S. government to back down on tariff threats, at least temporarily,” he said.

“Here in Alberta, oil is our strongest card.”

McGowan said Smith could also learn from the thousands of provincial public sector employees that have gone on strike.

“We’ve demonstrated here in Alberta and across the country that we get the best possible outcomes at the bargaining table by identifying our strongest cards and either playing those cards or threatening to play those cards,” McGowan said.

Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan says Premier Danielle Smith’s bargaining approach is not effective. Eli J. Ridder/CHAT News

“That’s how you win the game of negotiation.”

Smith last week announced that sectors under provincial control would stop purchasing U.S. goods, including alcohol and gambling machines. Alberta would also work with grocers to label Canadian-made food.

A spokesperson for Smith on Tuesday said Albertans elected her United Conservative government to “stand up for Albertans and act in the best interests of all Albertans.”

“Alberta’s government has and will continue to do so.”

Sam Blackett, the spokesperson, also pointed to Smith’s statement calling for a gathering of all the premiers and the prime minister, known as a first ministers meeting.

Smith said in a social media post that Ottawa and the premiers should respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threatened and imposed tariffs in a “proportional and level-headed manner.”

“We owe it to Canadian families to find a solution that results in all tariffs being lifted on both sides of the border as soon as possible,” she added.

Smith is currently in the U.S. as part of an effort to attract industry to Alberta and promote a deescalation of tariffs.

Prime Minister-designate Mark Carney promised during his campaign one of his first moves would be to do just that.

Despite attempts from the federal government, Ford, Smith and the other premiers, the White House is set to move ahead with 25 per tariffs on steel and aluminum Wednesday.

by Eli J. Ridder