Donald Trump threatened this Monday through his social network, Truth, with imposing 25% tariffs on all products from Mexico and Canada if these countries did not stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking to the United States. The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, tried to make Trump see that the Mexican authorities are already working on it, but that they are not problems that can be solved with tariffs and that a trade war would harm both countries. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the president-elect of the United States to show his willingness to work together. But the one who went off script with high-sounding statements was Doug Ford, premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. More than the threat of tariffs, it seemed to be concerned about appearing on the same level as its neighbor to the south. “Comparing us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I have ever heard,” he said.
In an appearance before the media outside his office broadcast by his Government’s press office, he embarked on that path from the beginning: “What seemed unfair to me about the comments is comparing us with Mexico. And I can tell you that Canada is not Mexico,” he began. “I found it insulting. It’s like a family member stabbed you right in the heart. I’ve spent a lot of time in the United States and have yet to talk to any Americans who have problems with Canadians. “We see drugs flowing from Mexico through California and British Columbia to Alberta and Ontario, and what we have to do is take that threat seriously,” the conservative leader continued.
Ford closed his initial intervention by reiterating the same message: “There are no two closer allies with a more open border than Canada in the United States. And I want to emphasize that comparing us to Mexico is the most insulting thing I have ever heard from our closest friends and allies, the United States of America. “We want to work together, we will work together and we will solve this problem,” he declared.
Ford referred to the call that Trudeau had on Monday with Trump. “We talk about the intense and effective connections between our countries that flow from one side to the other. We talked about some of the challenges we can work on together. It was a good call,” said the Prime Minister of Canada about that conversation. “This is a relationship that we know needs to be worked on, and that’s what we will do,” Trudeau explained.
Fall of the Canadian dollar
Monday’s threat of widespread tariffs on Canadian imports caused a depreciation of the Mexican peso and the Canadian dollar, which is trading at its lowest levels against the U.S. dollar since mid-2020. Those tariffs would deal a serious blow to the treaty that governs trade relations. between the three North American countries and which was negotiated in 2019 and 2020, under the first term of Donald Trump. It meant rewriting the 1994 Free Trade Agreement.
The premier of Ontario has been in favor of Canada maintaining different bilateral trade agreements with the United States and Mexico, instead of one with three parties. Ford has frequently complained that Mexico serves to channel Chinese imports
Trudeau has announced an emergency meeting with provincial leaders this Wednesday to discuss the tariffs that Trump threatens to impose on January 20, the day he will take office.
“We should not confuse the Mexican border with the Canadian one,” declared Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, according to the Associated Press agency. The US Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests on the Mexican border in October, and 23,721 on the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024. “It is the equivalent of an important weekend on the border with Mexico,” said the Canadian Minister of Immigration, Marc Miller, who added that Canada is considering a series of border measures, including additional resources.
Quebec Premier François Legault acknowledged that the problem at the border with Mexico is much worse, but called Trump’s concerns legitimate, citing the recent increase in illegal immigrants entering the United States from Canada. “A 25% tariff would mean the loss of tens of thousands of jobs,” Legault said. “We can’t start a war. We have to do everything possible so that there are no tariffs,” he said, in statements also reported by AP.
Canada is one of the countries in the world most dependent on foreign trade. More than three quarters of its exports are destined for the United States. About US$2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border every day. Approximately 60% of US oil imports come from Canada, and 85% of electricity imports. Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the United States.
When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term, Canada retaliated, sometimes thinking more about their political implications than their economic ones. Now, Canadians, like Mexicans, are especially concerned about tariffs on cars. The North American automobile industry is highly integrated and so is the market itself.
