Danielle Smith rejects taxing oil exports, pushes increased diplomacy efforts with U.S.
Danielle Smith says she wants to avoid further trade war escalations and instead double down on diplomacy efforts — cautioning the U.S. has the power to cripple Canada energy-wise.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has rejected calls from the Opposition NDP and former Premier Jason Kenney to tax Alberta's oil exports to the United States in response to recent tariffs. Instead, she has pushed for increased diplomatic efforts to avoid further escalation of the trade war between the two countries.
Smith warned that a 50 per cent tariff on the four million barrels of oil Canada exports to the U.S. each day would lead to retaliatory tariffs of 50 to 100 per cent on all oil and gas products. This, she said, would result in the loss of about half a million jobs in Alberta alone, and hundreds of thousands more in Ontario and Quebec. She also predicted that American refineries processing Alberta's heavy oil would switch to refining Venezuelan oil, causing Canada to lose the U.S. as a customer entirely.
With the U.S. midterm elections approaching, Smith believes Canada should focus on being "too friendly, kind, and helpful to resist," rather than making empty threats. She urged Canada to work with U.S. Congress members and State governors from both parties to communicate the destructive impact of tariffs on American businesses and people. The Premier emphasized that Canada will only win this trade dispute through smart, strategic, and agile diplomacy.
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