ANALYSIS: What Alberta Premier Smith Knew About the Trump Tariffs

(L-R) Alberta Premier Danielle Smith with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Canadian entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary at Trump's golf club in Florida, on Jan. 12, 2025. Courtesy Office of the Premier

As the federal government and the premiers announced a slew of retaliatory actions against U.S. tariffs while criticizing the Trump administration, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith repeatedly urged them to “de-escalate the rhetoric” and stick to diplomacy.

In the end, it was due to a phone call between the leaders of the two nations, and Canada’s agreement to appoint a “fentanyl czar” and take other actions, that the tariffs were put on pause. All are items that Smith had previously called for.

Throughout the episode, Smith appeared to have a good awareness of what the Trump administration was looking for. She attributed this to having made the effort to talk with U.S. officials and elected representatives.

“Diplomacy has won the day. Let us ensure that continues as we know there is much more work ahead of us,” Smith said in celebrating the pause to the tariffs on Feb. 3.

Canada’s federal government announced a detailed retaliation plan on Feb. 1, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and a 10 percent tariff on China on top of existing tariffs, with Washington citing concerns about the flow of drugs and illegal migrants through America’s borders.

Mexico, which had indicated it planned to retaliate but didn’t outline any details, got the same outcome as Canada, with Trump on Feb. 3 pausing the tariffs for 30 days after President Claudia Sheinbaum promised to deploy 10,000 troops to the border.

Diplomacy

Smith was the only premier who went go to Mar-a-Lago to meet with Trump before he was sworn in as president in an effort to persuade him not to go through with the tariffs.

Upon returning from the trip, she stated matter-of-factly that the tariffs would happen.

“We need to be prepared that tariffs are coming,” she said on Jan. 13. “I haven’t seen any indication in any of the president’s public commentary or even in the comments that he had with me that he’s inclined to change his approach.”

Smith, who on Jan. 15 refused to sign a joint statement on a response to the tariffs with the federal government and premiers over her opposition to the feds not ruling out export tariffs on oil and gas, urged Canadian officials to avoid increasing tensions, even if considering counter tariffs.

“We all know that if there are tariffs imposed by the U.S. then there would have to be a proportional response by our country,” she said on Jan. 21 while in Washington to meet with Trump officials.

“However, when you have a dispute with your best friend and ally, it is entirely counterproductive to escalate matters by talking about retaliation, how tough we are and how we plan on hitting our friend back if they hit us.”

Her call for cooler heads came as some premiers were announcing that they planned on taking retaliatory measures at a provincial level, such as pulling American alcoholic beverages from liquor stores.

In the final days of January, as Trump signalled that he would impose the tariffs on Feb. 1, Smith urged the federal government to appoint a “border czar” as part of addressing the Trump administration’s concern about the flow of drugs and illegal migration at the border.

“The one thing that we can do this week, in just the next couple of days, to have the best chance to avoid tariffs is to show clear and unequivocal action to secure the border,” she said on Jan. 29.

“This should start with the appointment of a Canadian border czar to work with the new American border czar to jointly crack down hard on fentanyl and illegal migrants.”

Hours after Trump signed the executive order on Feb. 1 to go ahead with imposing tariffs on Canada, Ottawa announced a detailed plan for retaliation.

Like the prime minister and other premiers, Smith expressed her disappointment with the U.S. tariffs, and repeated her previous comments that a proportionate response would be an appropriate approach.

But while other premiers started ordering retaliatory actions at the provincial level, Smith noted that her government’s efforts at diplomacy succeeded in getting a carveout for the energy sector, with tariffs reduced to 10 percent instead of 25 percent, and stressed that she would continue her diplomatic approach to convince the U.S. administration to remove the tariffs.

Over the weekend, as tensions surrounding the tariffs increased, Smith penned an op-ed urging Canadian leaders to scale down their tone on the issue.

“As premier of Alberta, I am calling on my fellow premiers, the prime minister and all of our national leaders to de-escalate the rhetoric as much as possible and look to diplomacy and advocacy as our primary tool to resolve this conflict,” she wrote in the National Post on Feb. 2.

She also repeated her calls for Canada to remove barriers to resource development projects, saying the country needs to become more competitive.

On Feb. 3, after Trudeau first talked with Trump that morning, a discussion that was to be followed with another call in the afternoon, news emerged that Trump agreed to pause the tariffs on Mexico for 30 days, after President Sheinbaum promised to deploy 10,000 troops to the border to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants.

Sheinbaum, similar to Trudeau, had said on Feb. 1 in response to the U.S. tariffs that her country would take retaliatory action, but didn’t announce the details.

Following their afternoon call on Feb. 3, Trudeau and Trump announced Canada will also get a 30-day pause on the tariffs, with Ottawa agreeing to new funding to tackle drugs and money laundering, ensure 24/7 eyes on the border, and making it clear that there will be 10,000 front-line personnel deployed to the border as part of the previously announced $1.3 billion border security plan.

The agreement also included a “fentanyl czar” to tackle the flow of the illegal drug.

“The appointment of a Canadian fentanyl czar with authority to coordinate a massive joint effort with the United Stated to target Fentanyl traffickers is something Alberta has been calling for since it became clear in our discussions with U.S. elected representatives  and administration officials that this would be a critical part of reaching a deal to avoid tariffs,” Smith said after the announcement of the agreement.

She again repeated her call for Canadian leaders to pursue diplomacy and tone down the rhetoric, while saying she will return to Washington to continue diplomatic efforts with U.S. officials.

“I once again call on our federal government officials and fellow Premiers to de-escalate rhetoric, abandon any non-tariff measures for the time being, and turn our efforts entirely to advocacy and good faith negotiation,” Smith said.