Members of US President-elect Donald Trump’s administration and his transition team are celebrating Canada’s border security plan, even though Republicans are unsure whether it will prevent threatened tariffs that many Americans don’t appear to want.
A new survey from Quinnipiac University This week reports that 51 percent of people in the United States oppose Trump’s plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Canada and Mexico when he takes office next month, and 60 percent tariffs on Chinese goods. Only 38 percent of respondents said they support the plan, which many economists say will raise prices for American consumers.
Trump explicitly linked his threat to impose tariffs on calls by Canada and Mexico to strengthen security on their borders to stop illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the United States.
Canadian officials on Tuesday announced a $1.3 billion border security plan that seeks to address these and other issues such as sex trafficking.
Since then, there have been positive conversations with the Trump administration about borders and tariffs, Finance Minister Dominique LeBlanc, who currently holds the public safety portfolio, said Thursday.
“I’m confident that we have a friendly, cooperative discussion (underway) with the incoming administration of President Trump,” LeBlanc told reporters at an unrelated news conference in New Brunswick. “But we have a lot of work to do.”
Two social media accounts for Trump’s presidential campaign and transition team described Canada’s plan as evidence of this Trump guarantees “victories” Before he took office.
“With one statement and one meeting, President-elect Trump has done more to secure our northern border than Joe Biden has done in four years,” said Carolyn Leavitt, the incoming White House press secretary who was a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign. Published on X. “amazing.”
On Wednesday, Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a top Trump ally in Congress who co-chairs the Congressional Border Security Caucus, painted the Canadian announcement as a victory for Trump.
“This is what happens when a strong leader comes and puts signs,” he told reporters during a press conference with members of the caucus.
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However, when asked whether the border security plan would be enough to prevent Trump’s tariff threat, Biggs could not answer.
“I don’t know,” he said, before turning to his colleagues behind him to ask if they had “any idea.” No one responded, and two of them shook their heads.
“I simply don’t know,” Biggs said.
“You’re asking me to read President Trump’s mind. I will say I support him and he is doing a brilliant job. He is an incredible leader.”
Biggs added that he wants to see Canada and the United States work together to resolve the “border crisis” together while remaining major trading partners and respecting each other’s sovereignty. He also expressed similar wishes for Mexico, which has been the primary focus of immigration concerns in the United States
Trump himself has not commented on Ottawa’s border plan, instead continuing to criticize the trade deficit between Canada and the United States, which he says exceeds $100 million and incorrectly describes as a subsidy.
US Trade Representative says The US trade deficit in goods and services with Canada will reach US$53.5 billion in 2022.
While Canada generally sends more goods and services to the United States than it purchases, officials such as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have noted that Canada also exports billions of dollars in raw materials coveted by American manufacturers and consumers, including $124 billion in oil exports last year alone.
“The subsidies mean something for nothing, but we are getting tangible things that Americans want and need,” Dan Anthony, managing director of Trade Partnership Worldwide, told Global News.
Canadian officials have been busy preparing for the possibility of tariffs while calling for border improvements to meet Trump’s demands.
Although premiers such as Ontario Premier Doug Ford have said they support the federal government’s plan for border security, they said there is a high possibility Trump will follow through on his threat.
“Folks, this is coming,” Ford said last week after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau briefed premiers on the border plan in a closed-door meeting. “We need to be prepared.”
LeBlanc said Thursday that he was “encouraged” by the ongoing talks with the United States, and said he had a “very positive initial call” with Trump administration “border official” Tom Holman this week, and the two agreed to discuss the border security plan in the coming days. .
At the same time, he said he and other officials need to continue to make the case to the administration and Republican lawmakers that tariffs would also negatively impact American consumers as well as the Canadian economy.
“If (Trump) wins the election based largely on the cost of living in the United States, this may not be the best way to respond to that concern in the United States as well,” LeBlanc said.
“We have an attentive ear. We have a friendly chain of counterparts who want to work with us. But the work is not over yet, and we have to work through January 20, and after he is inaugurated and takes office with his next administration, we have to continue to do this work.”
A new report from the lobby group for Canadian manufacturers and exporters It found that nearly nine in 10 of more than 300 Canadian manufacturers surveyed would face significant or very severe impacts if the U.S. imposed tariffs on Canadian imports.
A 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods could cut exports to the United States by about half, according to some estimates, Gary Hufbauer, a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Global News.
Even if Canada could focus and export more to other countries, he said, that would still result in a potential net decline of about 20 per cent — resulting in an overall decline of 4 per cent in the Canadian economy.
“In terms of economic size, this is a very large number,” he added.
But Hofbauer said the 25% tariffs would also lead to higher prices for individual items that American consumers enjoy and rely on Canadian supply chains, such as beer and agricultural products.
He said the overall price level in the United States would rise by “one-tenth of one percent,” based on his own calculations that only take into account threatened U.S. tariffs without any retaliation from Canada.
“This seems small, and it is small, but it is still meaningful,” he said.
The Quinnipiac poll split sharply along party lines, with 76 percent of Republicans supporting Trump’s tariff plan while 89 percent of Democrats opposed it. More importantly, among the independent voters who helped win Trump the presidency, 53 percent said they opposed tariffs in the poll, which had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
“Will tariffs targeting foreign countries, aimed at leveling the playing field on imports and exports, hurt Americans at home? The numbers may suggest that is exactly what “Voters fear it will happen.”
– With files from Global and The Canadian Press’s Gillian Piper and Mackenzie Gray
