Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew warned Tuesday that Donald Trump’s pledge to slap 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian exports will plunge this country into an economic recession.
Trump, who will be become U.S. president for the second time Jan. 20, issued the threat to impose steep tariffs on exports from Canada and Mexico on Day 1 of his administration.
The tariffs would translate to a $2,000-per-person decrease in GDP across Canada, said the premier, who is also Manitoba’s intergovernmental and international relations minister.
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES
Premier Wab Kinew, pictured following his address at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM) convention on Monday, said U.S.-president-elect Donald Trump’s planned tariffs will have a “huge impact” on Manitoba.
“That’s a huge impact,” he said at the Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention in Winnipeg. “That’s something we can’t allow.”
Kinew said federal government action on meeting NATO spending targets and bolstering the ranks of the RCMP to fight the illegal drug trade have the potential to appease Trump and reduce the tariff-fuelled economic damage on agriculture producers and other exporters.
“The premiers are united on this one,” said Kinew, who is set to participate in a virtual meeting with his provincial counterparts and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday.
The emergency first ministers’ meeting was called after Trump issued his threat to his neighbours and closest trading partners, focusing on illicit drugs entering the U.S. and border security.
The president-elect has, dating back to the beginning of his first term in office in 2017, repeatedly called out NATO member nations for not meeting security alliance spending targets of two per cent GDP.
Kinew said that will hurt Canadian trade with its most important partner.
“If Canada is not upholding our obligation in terms of what we invest in the Canadian Armed Forces, the Trump administration is going to use that as something to hit us over the head with in the trade conversation,” the premier told hundreds of AMM delegates at the RBC Convention Centre.
“We’ve got to have strong border security and bring the hammer down on drug trafficking.”
To do that, the province needs more “boots on the ground,” he said.
“We need the federal government to address the RCMP staff shortage,” Kinew said, prompting cheers from the audience.
“If we’re able to address the RCMP staff shortage, I think that would benefit every single municipal leader here in this room, it will benefit your ratepayers, the local citizens and make communities safer.
“It would also set the stage for a much better trade conversation.… It’s going to benefit us with public safety with the addiction crisis and also with the economy and, hopefully, prevent that $2,000 (GDP) impact.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter
Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol.
Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.