Canadian officials are making a diplomatic push in Washington to avoid U.S. tariffs but ultimately they remain in the dark about U.S. President Donald Trump’s intentions, Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said after meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Joly held a first meeting with Rubio in his new capacity on Jan. 29. While she said her arguments to U.S. officials explaining what’s at stake for the two countries if tariffs are imposed are “definitely resonating,” Joly told reporters after the meeting she has no insight on what the U.S. administration plans to do.
“Am I in the head space of President Trump? No, of course not,” she said, calling Trump the “ultimate decision-maker.”
“And so in that sense, I’m just doing the job of making sure that people around him really are able to sign on our different arguments,” she said.
Joly said she spoke with Rubio about Canada’s border plan, on the impacts tariffs would have on the two countries, and on Ottawa’s intention to retaliate if push comes to shove. The two also spoke about geopolitical issues including Ukraine, the Middle, East, the Arctic, and China.
Rubio’s office issued a readout of the meeting saying the two top diplomats spoke on how to collaborate on issues such as border and energy security.
The readout also says Rubio “commended Canada for confronting the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] coercive and unfair economic practices,” without elaborating further. Ottawa imposed in October a 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric vehicles and a 25 percent tariff on Chinese steel and aluminum.
Tariffs Intended for ‘Action’
While no new information on potential U.S. tariffs came out of the Rubio meeting, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary Howard Lutnick provided some insight around the tariff strategy during his Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 29.
Lutnick said the threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico was intended to “create action” on strengthening the border and that tariffs can be avoided if the response is adequate. He also spoke of a second wave of tariffs that could come in the spring after the U.S. government completes a review of trade imbalances.
By Noé Chartier
