'A lot at stake': Fedeli says Canada needs to unite against Trump’s tariffs threat

Returning from a trip to the U.S. capital, Vic Fedeli, Ontario’s Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade says Canada must unite against looming tariff threats that could be imposed by President-elect Donald Trump.

The potential tariff is sparking new concerns over the economic impact it could have on Canadian jobs, inflation and supply chains.

In North Bay, business is currently booming at Mincon Canada’s facility.

"Twenty-eight people work here in this building right now with the expectation we’ll have five (people) more by next year," general manager Belinda McDevitt said.

But the threat of Trump’s tariffs threat looms large.

Mincon Canada exports roughly two-thirds of its rotary bits for the global mining and quarry industry to the U.S. -- about $700,000 a month -- including Nevada, Utah and Arizona.

"It will not make us very cost competitive," McDevitt said.

"But we’ve seen the other side of it where President-elect Trump is good for business."

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The U.S. is Canada’s largest trading partner. 

"If Ontario were a standalone country, it would be America’s third-largest trading partner with a near-perfect balance in two-way trade totalling C$493 billion in 2023, employing millions of workers on both sides of the border," the province said in a statement Nov. 4.

"Ontario is the largest trading partner for 17 states and the second-largest trading partner for another 11."

Returning from Washington, D.C., after what Fedeli describes as productive meetings with U.S. representatives about the ongoing tense trade relations, the provincial trade minister calls on a united Team Canada approach.

"There’s a lot at stake here. This is 'all hands-on deck,' Fedeli told reporters Friday.

"I don’t think tariffs have a political colour."

Trump is threatening to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports on his first day back in the White House until Canada addresses his border security concerns.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the tariff "will remain in effect until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!"

With the threat of significant tariffs on Canadian goods looming, the Ontario government launched a campaign last week advertising the province as an "ally to the north."

"Auto parts go back and forth four or five, six, seven, eight times. How would a tax even work? Has anybody thought that through? You're going to tax it every time. Price of cars would go up 100 per cent," Fedeli said.

"The U.S. still imports oil. Sixty per cent of all the oil they import comes from Canada. Has anybody actually thought that if you put a 25 per cent tariff on things leaving Canada, the price of gas at the pump would go up hugely the next day?"

Fedeli said he has many more meetings planned with trips south of the border in January and February to discuss trade relations between the two countries.

"Plan A is the charm offensive. Plan B, which runs simultaneously, is saying 'By the way, here all the things you need that we have: electricity, critical minerals, oil and gas,'" Fedeli said.

"All of these things are in Canada."

Following a meeting on Wednesday between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the country's premiers to discuss the border and potential retaliation, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said his province "will go to the full extent depending how far this goes."

Ford has suggested Ontario would retaliate by shutting energy off to the U.S., which Trump has shrugged off.

"We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy, going down to Michigan, going down to New York state and over to Wisconsin," Ford said Wednesday.

"I don't want this to happen, but my No.1 job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole, since we're the largest province."

During his first term as U.S. president in 2018, Trump triggered a nearly year-long trade war with Canada after imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel products and 10 per cent on Canadian aluminum.

In response, Canada unveiled a 25 per cent counter tariff on a long list of American steel and aluminum products, along with a 10 per cent surtax on miscellaneous U.S. goods including coffee, prepared meals and maple syrup.

Those retaliatory tariffs were eventually lifted in 2019 after Canada, the U.S. and Mexico reached a deal.

Then, in August 2020, Trump once again announced plans to impose a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum.

In a statement at the time, Freeland said "Canada intends to swiftly impose dollar-for-dollar countermeasures," but one month later, Trump hit pause on those tariffs amid the looming presidential election later that year.

McDevitt is hoping cooler heads prevail and that an agreement will come in play to benefit both countries.

"It’s really not good for either side of the border," she concluded.