Trudeau, Canadian officials react to Trump not immediately imposing tariffs

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is seen during a cabinet retreat at Chateau Montebello in Montebello, Que., on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

With U.S. President Donald Trump yet to make good on his threat to impose significant tariffs on his first day back in the White House, federal and provincial leaders are expressing hope that Canada has more time to negotiate.

One senior Canadian government source told CTV News they hope Trump not acting immediately and instead opting to study the cross-border trade dynamic, could give Canada up to six months of tariff reprieve.

“This was news today,” Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said Monday at a Liberal cabinet retreat in Montebello, Que. “It is important news, and at the same time, we’ll be working on preventing tariffs, like I said, and preparing a response.”

Joly said cabinet is still working to prevent tariffs, but at the same time has prepared an initial response plan, and is thinking about the long-term, specifically how Canada can diversify its economy and “prevent trade barriers amongst provinces and territories.”

Late last November, Trump wrote in a social media post he’d implement a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico as one of “many” executive orders on day one of his second term.

The threat prompted Canada to mount a coordinated response to the president, including a rare in-person meeting of prime minister and premiers. Trudeau also reconvened his cabinet committee on Canada-U.S. relations, and struck a new Canada-U.S. relations council, comprised of 18 prominent Canadians.

The Washington Post reported Monday morning that Trump planned to hold off on implementing the tariffs. He will instead issue a “broad memorandum” directing federal agencies to study U.S. trade policies — including outlining any trade deficits — and singling out America’s relationship with China, Mexico, and Canada for scrutiny.

“I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump said in his inauguration speech on Monday.

“For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues, it will be massive amounts of money pouring into our treasury coming from foreign sources,” he added.

Awaiting Trump’s initial action, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet gathered in Montebello to be able to rapidly respond and continue the high-priority discussions on relations with the incoming administration.

When asked how long they believe they can stave off Trump’s tariffs, neither Joly nor Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc would directly say, pointing instead to the work they’ve been doing to engage with Trump’s incoming administration.

The Canadian government has been readying a three-phased counter-tariff response to roll out as early as inauguration day, depending on whether, and how severely, Trump followed through on his previous threats.

In a brief statement to reporters on his way into the meeting space on Monday, Trudeau said he was “very happy to be in Montebello,” and to “dig in on issues facing Canadians,” but he did not mention Trump specifically.

Trudeau did congratulate the 47th U.S. president on his inauguration Monday, lauding the relationship Canada-U.S. relationship as “the world’s most successful economic partnership.”

“We are each other’s largest trade partners, with a relationship that creates millions of jobs, attracts billions in investment into the continent, and keeps our people safe,” Trudeau wrote in a statement Monday, adding he looks forward to working with Trump during the latter’s second term.

‘He’s coming for us’: Premier Ford

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who wore a ballcap reading “Canada is not for sale” at last week’s First Ministers’ meeting, told reporters at Queen’s Park on Monday he’s even more uncertain now about Trump’s next moves.

“He did say that he’s going to apply tariffs across the board, and I feel he’s going to be targeting Canada, specifically Ontario, because we’re the manufacturing might,” Ford said. “And it’s very concerning.”

Ford has been publicly pushing back against Trump and his tariff threat, as well as the president’s comments about using “economic force” to annex Canada.

“These are going to be negotiations that are going to go on for quite some time right now,” Ford said. “Make no mistake about it, he’s coming for us. Is it tomorrow? Or is it a month down the road? But it’s very concerning.”

Ford has previously threatened to cut off electricity from his province to 1.5 million homes across three U.S. states as a “last resort” response to the tariffs. He later explained that his comments were about standing up for Canadian workers.

The premier has since pitched an energy plan, dubbed “Fortress Am-Can,” which would build upon Ontario’s existing nuclear infrastructure to deliver more power south of the border.

Ford said Trump’s new External Revenue Service — which the premier called “another threat” — adds even greater uncertainty, specifically to companies that may be looking to invest in Ontario, because they won’t know how the tariffs might affect their company.

Canada needs to address ‘irritants’: Premier Smith

Alberta Premier Danielle smith — who is in Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration and recently visited Trump at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago — was more optimistic Canada can avoid the tariffs altogether if some new measures are put in place.

In an interview with CTV News Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos, Smith said while Canada has escaped the promised day-one tariffs, it can’t take anything for granted.

“There’s still obviously irritants in the relationship between Canada and the U.S., and I think this gives us an opportunity to address some of those,” Smith said, pointing to border security, illegal drugs and migrants, and Canada’s still-unmet NATO defence spending commitments.

Smith refused to sign the joint communique with the other premiers until the federal government takes the proposal of restricting energy exports to the U.S. off the table.

She said Monday she believes it’s more beneficial to emphasize the benefits of the cross-border relationship — as opposed to ratcheting up the rhetoric around Canada’s potential retaliatory measures — to avoid the application of tariffs altogether.

With files from CTV News Senior Political Correspondent Mike Le Couteur