Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is echoing concerns about Mexico that were expressed earlier this week by Ontario’s premier, saying she hopes Canada can get a “carve-out” from import tariffs that president-elect Donald Trump is promising.
Smith told her provincewide radio call-in program Saturday that advice she received from Robert Lighthizer, Trump’s former trade chief, was that governments north of the border should take a “Canada first” approach, noting Mexico was inviting investment from China.
She said that was undercutting the manufacturing sector in both the U.S. and Canada.
Ford on Tuesday issued a statement saying that since signing on to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Mexico has allowed itself to become a back door for Chinese cars, auto parts and other products into Canadian and American markets.
He later told reporters at an unrelated news conference that he’s proposing the Canadian government make its own a bilateral trade deal with the U.S., and if Mexico then wants to make a separate deal with Canada, “God bless them.”
Smith said Saturday that a 10-percent tariff, which Trump has promised for all imports when he becomes president in January, would be very damaging to Canada and she’s already been speaking with other premiers and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland about it.
Mexico a ‘Backdoor’ for Chinese Goods, Ontario Premier Says, Urging Canada-US Bilateral Deal
“And so my advice is, as is Doug’s, is let’s take a Canada-first approach and let’s see if we can get a carve-out for all of Canada, because we do have balanced trade with the United States,” Smith told her radio audience.
“Biggest Transnational Crime Group on Earth”: Why Canada Must Break Free From China
A group of top national security experts is sounding the alarm: Canada’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has crossed from economic engagement into a full-blown democratic threat.
At a Dec. 6 forum in Toronto, former RCMP proceeds-of-crime director Garry Clement called the CCP “the biggest transnational organized crime group ever seen,” warning that Beijing is actively infiltrating Canada’s political, business, and cultural institutions. Through the United Front Work Department, the CCP co-opts elites, business leaders, community organizations, and media outlets—while intimidating and surveilling dissidents “on a daily basis.”
Clement also linked Beijing to the fentanyl crisis, saying the CCP could shut down precursor shipments to Canada “if they really wanted to,” but instead allows the flow as a form of “disruptive warfare,” echoing the tactics of the Opium Wars....
