Tariff threats: Legault to make first visit to Washington
Posted February 10, 2025 9:20 am.
Last Updated February 10, 2025 2:17 pm.
Quebec Premier François Legault is flying to Washington this week, where he will participate in a special mission of the Council of the Federation.
The 13 provincial and territorial premiers will hold a series of meetings there to “advocate for maintaining strong relations between Canada and the United States.”
They plan to address the following topics: jobs and the economy, energy, critical mineral supply chains, border security and immigration.
The rare mission comes as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to impose 10 per cent tariffs on oil and 25 per cent on all other Canadian products.
The tariffs were supposed to begin this month, but Trump ultimately decided to grant Canada a 30-day reprieve. But that may no longer be the case on Monday.
On Sunday night, Legault took to social media in the face of Trump’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports, saying:
“The Trump administration is threatening to attack the aluminum and steel sectors, sectors on which the United States depends for the most part. Quebec exports 2.9 million tons of aluminum, or 60 per cent of their needs. Do they prefer to source from China? All of this shows that we need to start renegotiating our free trade agreement with the United States as soon as possible and not wait for the review scheduled for 2026. We must put an end to this uncertainty.”
In an interview with The Canadian Press, the leader of the official opposition in the National Assembly, Marc Tanguay, said that it is “high time” that Legault “gets involved” and goes to Washington.
“This is François Legault’s first visit to the United States since 2023,” he emphasizes. However, according to him, Quebec must be at the heart of the Canadian strategy.
“What Quebec makes available to the United States are critical inputs: aluminum, steel, lumber,” says Tanguay. “We take it for granted that François Legault (…) will be able to demonstrate to American elected officials the importance of (…) Quebec inputs.
“In terms of critical and strategic minerals, lithium, graphite, cobalt, (…) he must also be able to put on the table the importance of what this represents for the United States,” he added.
Tanguay said he hopes that this trip to Washington will be “the first in a long series” of trips for the Premier of Quebec, because “the threat is still tangible.”
“We must never underestimate personal encounters, the relationships of trust that are built and consolidated,” he insisted.
Avoiding tariffs, or at least reducing them, “is always possible,” adds the PQ spokesperson for international relations, Pascal Paradis.
He asks Legault to activate his diplomatic channels “at all levels,” both in political and business circles.
Danielle Smith (Alberta) and Doug Ford (Ontario) “have already gone and established their own relationships,” said Paradis stressed in an interview.
He said he hoped that Legault would take the time in Washington to “show the institutional and cultural differences between Quebec and Canada, talk about our commercial assets and our way of doing business.”
Moderate your expectations
While it is true that the visit to Washington is not “useless,” we must “moderate our expectations,” warns the political scientist from the University of Alberta, Frédéric Boily.
“It would be very surprising, even improbable, if this could constitute a turning point in the Canada-U.S. relationship at this time,” he said in a telephone interview. “The underlying dynamic is not provincial; it is the federal government that is the major player in all of this.”
However, Boily predicts that the concerted effort of the provincial and territorial premiers will be “well received by the entire Canadian population, which is worried,” according to him.
In this sense, projecting the image of a united country would be an achievement, as Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has not always been part of the common front.
But we must not stop there, believes the co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, Ruba Ghazal.
In an interview, she emphasizes that the impact of potential tariffs is already being felt in Quebec, as some companies, faced with uncertainty, are proceeding with layoffs.
Legault has already stated that the tariffs put 100,000 jobs in Quebec at risk.
Ruba Ghazal therefore invites Legault to “keep the workers in mind” and threaten to charge for the hydroelectricity that Quebec sends to the United States.
“Legault said he was open, but we should start using it, because that would allow us to have a certain balance of power in the discussions that will take place with Trump,” she said.
Legault has stated in recent weeks that he is considering, with the other provinces, various retaliatory measures.
He signaled his intention to help businesses, diversify Quebec’s export markets and abolish certain interprovincial barriers that harm internal trade in Canada.
Legault also said he was ready to authorize pipeline and gas terminal projects, if they are socially accepted, to open up Alberta’s hydrocarbons.
The head of the Quebec government is expected to make a second mission to Washington by April.
Canada and the United States form one of the largest integrated markets in the world. More than $3.5 billion in goods and services cross the border every day.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
