‘Continue the pressure’: Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister addresses looming U.S. tariffs at Montreal Chamber of Commerce

“We need to continue the pressure,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly, after an address at Montreal’s Chamber of Commerce Tuesday. She spoke of bolstering border security amid looming U.S. tariffs. Alyssia Rubertucci reports.

A day after U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to pause the 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods for 30 days, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mélanie Joly, was in Montreal Tuesday and addressed the Chamber of Commerce, speaking about bolstering border security.

“I think Canadians across the country are feeling a sense of relief because of this 30-day pause,” said Joly.

“We need to make sure that these are not only words, but they’re transferred into actions, and that’s what we’re doing,” Joly said, adding that Blackhawk helicopters are already patrolling the border.

“We already have drones that have been bought that are patrolling the border. We now have changed the opening hours of our border posts across the country, and we need to continue to do that.”

Trump said he was satisfied with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s border plan, which includes a joint Canada-U.S. organized crime task force, and the appointment of a “fentanyl czar.”

“Yesterday, my conversations were about the catastrophe and how do we deal with that catastrophe,” explained Michel Leblanc, Montreal Chamber of Commerce. “So it’s a very, very positive outcome that happened yesterday, but in 30 days, we’ll see.”

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Montreal city councillor Craig Sauvé shop for locally sourced groceries at Marché Chez Robin, a grocery store in Verdun on Feb. 4, 2025 (Zach Cheung, CityNews)

Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was also in Montreal Tuesday and said preparing for tariffs should include the Liberal government calling back parliament to “implement measures to help workers.”

“These 30 days are time for us to prepare, but we can’t try to appease Donald Trump. We need to fight back and defend our country and use these 30 days to prepare that defense,” said Singh.

Some of those workers who would potentially be affected include Robin Simon, the owner of Chez Robin local market in Verdun where Singh was shopping.

“We’re organic — organic is already expensive,” said Simon. “So if you add another 25 per cent on that, I don’t see who’s going to be interested in that.”

Singh stressed that it’s important to buy Canadian to defend the economy from the possible threat of tariffs once the 30-day pause is over.

“Making that decision to support local industry, making that decision to support the local economy will keep us stronger, it’s something we should always have been doing,” he said. “But making that decision now in the face of tariffs will strengthen our local economy, will strengthen local producers, and we’re hoping to send a message with our pocketbook that we’re not going to buy American products.”

Joly echoed the same call.

“We need to continue the pressure to make sure that we lobby Washington, that we also have an impact on how we buy Canadian, how we are also making sure that our travel plans are also to travel more in Canada or outside the U.S. except when we have family, which I can completely understand,” she said.

“And that’s the way — by being organized that we will be able to protect our jobs and invest in Canada.”

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