New Canada–US Relations Committee Meets on ‘Urgent Issue’ of Trump Win: Freeland

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland speaks at a news conference on the government's economic plan, at National Press Theatre in Ottawa, on Oct. 8, 2024. The Canadian Press/Justin Tang

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the revival of the cabinet committee to focus on Canada–United States relations was done in response to the “urgent issue” of Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States.

“The idea is that it will operate in the way that the COVID committee operated, bringing together ministers to address, in a working fashion, an urgent issue,” Freeland told reporters on Nov. 8.

The Cabinet Committee on Canada-U.S. Relations was re-established by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a day earlier, with its mandate being examining “critical Canada-U.S. issues” in light of Trump returning to the White House. The committee, which is made up of Liberal cabinet ministers, is chaired by Freeland and vice-chaired by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

Freeland said at the committee’s first meeting, held earlier in the day, the group had a “very constructive” conversation focusing on the Canada–U.S. trading relationship and border. The finance minister added that she had recently met with representatives from the steel sector in Hamilton, the auto parts manufacturing sector in Toronto, and the leaders of Canada’s largest banks.

During Trump’s first presidency from 2016 to 2020, he imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, which were eventually removed. He has also repeatedly said on the campaign trail he intends to impose broad tariffs on imported goods, including 10 to 20 percent tariffs on all imports into the United States and 60 percent tariffs on imports from China.

Freeland Says Trump ‘Respects Strength’

During the press conference, Freeland was asked about the potential for Canada to impose reciprocal tariffs on the United States, given that Canada did so in 2018 in response to the president’s 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum imports. Freeland did not directly answer the question, but acknowledged that Canada had taken action “really reluctantly and with no pleasure” to the “illegal tariffs.”

“What’s important about that whole experience is that Canada and the United States agreed at the end of the day that it didn’t make sense for our two countries to have those tariffs imposed,” Freeland said, noting her close partnership with then-U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.

During a G7 meeting hosted in Canada in 2018, Trudeau said he wouldn’t hesitate to  take retaliatory measures in response to U.S. tariffs. Trump, who had since left the summit, said that Trudeau “acted so meek and mild” during the meeting and that the prime minister had made the remarks after he had left. Trudeau’s office said that the prime minister didn’t say anything he hadn’t said before, “both in public, and in private conversations with the president.”

Freeland was also asked about Trump’s comments from 2018 that his team didn’t “like their representative very much,” which was presumably in reference to her. Freeland said she would “never put words in his mouth,” but that in her experience, “Trump respects strength, and he respects people and countries who are strong and clear in defending their countries.”

“We did a really good trade deal with the previous Trump administration. We did a win-win deal that works for the U.S., that works for Canada,” she said.

Trump renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during his first presidency, and while running for president a second time, he promised to “formally notify” Mexico and Canada of his intent to invoke the six-year renegotiation provisions of CUSMA, which replaced NAFTA.