LILLEY: Here's how Trudeau and his team got reprieve from Trump
PM, advisers began the day on Monday thinking there was no way to avoid U.S. tariffs
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Justin Trudeau woke up Monday morning believing that the Donald Trump tariffs were inevitable.
As the prime minister admitted on Saturday, he had not been able to speak to the U.S. president since the inauguration on Jan. 20 and the threat of tariffs had become reality over the weekend with the signing of an executive order.
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On Monday morning, though, Trudeau would finally get a call with Trump that would change the trajectory of the day.
On the call, Trump expressed frustration and accused Canada of not doing enough on the border, of not having a plan. Trudeau countered there was a plan with $1.3 billion in funding for a series of measures that were presented to Trump’s team and released publicly in December.
But it wasn’t enough for Trump; he wanted more.
Trudeau and his team had gone into the call thinking there was no way to avoid Trump’s tariffs, a message that was conveyed to media outlets even as Mexico had found a way to get a reprieve. Yet as they left the call, it was decided the two men would speak again later in the day – at 3 p.m.
A small group of people around Trudeau spent the day frantically trying to speak to their U.S. counterparts and find measures that would satisfy Trump.
When the 3 p.m. call came – just after Trump had hosted last season’s Stanley Cup champions, the Florida Panthers, who were all dressed just like him – the mood was different. Trudeau went over the original plan from December in detail and then went through each of the additional measures Canada would take.
It was enough as Trump said there would be a 30-day reprieve while details were worked out.
Trudeau and his team had been tight-lipped all day, not informing provincial premiers who were waiting to be briefed nor the members of the Canada-U.S. Relations Council, a collection of political, business and labour leaders advising the government.
The first time most people heard about the deal was at 4:36 p.m., when Trudeau posted his statement to social media. He reiterated the commitments made in December, including drones and helicopters being deployed, additional personnel and enhanced co-operation with the U.S.
“In addition, Canada is making new commitments to appoint a fentanyl czar, we will list cartels as terrorists, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, launch a Canada- U.S. joint strike force to combat organized crime, fentanyl and money laundering,” Trudeau said.
“I have also signed a new intelligence directive on organized crime and fentanyl and we will be backing it with $200 million.”
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Trump responded with his own social media post welcoming Trudeau’s additional actions.
“Canada has agreed to ensure we have a secure northern border and to finally end the deadly scourge of drugs like fentanyl that have been pouring into our country, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, while destroying their families and communities all across our country,” Trump wrote.
For months, the Trudeau government had denied there was any issue at the Canada-U.S. border, ignoring the statistics and information put before them by the Americans. Now, instead of ignoring and lecturing, they are promising action.
They insisted that less that 1% of border interactions were from Canada, while U.S. statistics show it as closer to 7%. They denied fentanyl was an issue, pointing out that just 43 pounds of the drug were seized at the border and ignoring U.S. concerns about the drug being shipped through the mail.
The Trump administration even cited a Canadian government study to justify the tariffs.
“With respect to smuggling of illicit drugs across our northern border, Canada’s Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre recently published a study on the laundering of proceeds of illicit synthetic opioids, which recognized Canada’s heightened domestic production of fentanyl, largely from British Columbia, and its growing footprint within international narcotics distribution,” the executive order imposing the tariffs said.
We have a reprieve now and hopefully the people in charge in Ottawa will take these issues seriously. You don’t need to think Trump is right, you don’t need to like him or agree with him, but if he is threatening to hit our economy hard unless we act on an issue of interest to him, we had better listen as a country.
We’ve got 30 days, let’s use them wisely.
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