Smith's tariff victory cry alarms Conservatives as Ontario car sector gets pounded
Premier's Alberta-first language alarms federal Conservatives who are desperately trying to get Leader Pierre Poilievre elected
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Premier Danielle Smith is criticized from the outskirts of her Conservative camp for declaring that U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war on Canada is virtually over.
In a post on X she said, “It appears the worst of this tariff dispute is behind us (although there is still work to be done).”
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She said most Canadian goods, including Alberta energy, will not be tariffed under terms of the current trade deal.
Smith certainly acknowledged hardship, especially in Ontario’s auto industry, which Trump hit Wednesday with a 25 per cent levy.
But her overall tone was triumphal. She claimed vindication of her own efforts in the U.S.
“Today was an important win for Canada and Alberta,” she said.
Jason Kenney, her predecessor as UCP premier, posted his own view.
“Today’s U.S. tariff announcement is nothing to celebrate,” Kenney said on X.
“Entire Canadian industries still look to be clobbered by arbitrary U.S. tariffs.
“And the sword of Damocles continues to hang over us: the on-again-off-again ‘emergency’ 25 per cent tariff on Canadian exports imposed two months ago is reaffirmed in today’s executive order.”
Kenney, who recently joined the board of Herald parent company Postmedia, didn’t mention Smith directly, but the message was clear.
James Moore, a former colleague of Kenney’s in the Stephen Harper cabinet, was direct.
“With respect, premier, this is not a good day for Canada or the world,” he posted on X.
“When Alberta is economically attacked, it is bad for Canada.
“Thousands of Canadians in the auto, steel, aluminum and other industries may be losing their jobs.
“This is not a BIG WIN. Canadians stand together.”
Smith’s Alberta-first language alarms many federal Conservatives who are desperately trying to get Leader Pierre Poilievre elected.
They agree with her issues (the emission caps, Bill C-69 and many other irritants) but worry that she sounds out of line with growing Elbows Up patriotism across the country.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney owns that nationalist sentiment. Poilievre voices it firmly, but past echoes of Trumpism cast a shadow that’s hard to dispel.
Smith’s language comes across as jarring, especially in hard-hit southern Ontario, where the Liberals are far ahead but Poilievre must win seats to have any hope of victory.
One embittered federal player said: “The only way she could help Pierre would be to go into the witness protection program for the next month.”
Smith is right about the province averting serious disaster, for now, but some companies still face trouble.
Alberta firms sold nearly $1 billion worth of aluminum and steel to the U.S. in 2024. Those companies bear the 25 per cent tariff that bludgeons the much larger industries of Ontario and Quebec.
Tuesday’s new 25 per cent tariff on cars also has local impact.
Some Alberta companies sell products to the Ontario auto industry. They won’t be hit directly by tariffs, but any drop in activity means declining sales.
(Alberta cars, trucks and buses were once manufactured and exported by Redcliff Motors Company.
(The delightful town near Medicine Hat was known as “smokeless Pittsburgh of the West” until a ferocious F-4 tornado, one of the strongest ever in Canada, destroyed local businesses on June 25, 1915.)
Alberta does emerge from the latest tariff twist with minor harm, largely because of the exemptions for energy and agriculture, our two biggest industries by far.
But everything about the Trump tariff regime is madhouse nuts. One man has upended the world trade system.
Penguins on uninhabited islands are Trump-tariffed to the tips of their feathers.
Little Saint Pierre and Miquelon, the French territory just off the coast of Newfoundland, faces a 99 per cent tariff because it apparently sold a few fish to the U.S. and failed to buy anything in return.
Nothing is certain. Claims of victory are unwise and embarrassing.
Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald
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