No assurance Canada can escape Trump tariffs, despite new border measures, minister says

Public Safety Minister David McGuinty says he has been given no assurances yet that Canada can avoid tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump, despite the federal government’s latest measures to address border security and drug trafficking.

“I haven’t heard that personally, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop. We’re going to continue implementing,” McGuinty said in an interview with CTV’s Power Play on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Canada got reprieve for at least 30 days from Trump’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian imports — except energy products, which would be subject to a 10 per cent tariff — after making new commitments to secure the shared border. Those tariffs could come into effect as soon as March 4.

The federal government delivered on one of those new pledges on Thursday, designating seven criminal organizations – including cartels involved in fentanyl trafficking – as terrorist entities under the Criminal Code.

Historically, Canada has used the Criminal Code designation for groups like ISIS or al Qaeda. The U.S. listed the same groups as foreign terror organizations on Thursday.

Asked by host Vassy Kapelos whether the designation is happening as a direct response to Trump, McGuinty called it “a continuous, evergreen process.”

“(Officials are) constantly assessing different groups and different actors to see if they meet the threshold,” McGuinty said. “And in the case of these groups, if you look at the kind of vicious conduct, both here and around the world, if you look at what they’re doing with respect to human smuggling or drug trading or weapons or murder or the murder and abduction of political figures in different countries, they have made the determination.”

When pressed on whether the designation would have happened if Trump didn’t threaten tariffs, McGuinty wouldn’t answer directly.

“If the president and the prime minister spoke about this as a salient part of an agreement in order to try and stymie prevent tariffs on both of our economies, we think it’s a good thing,” McGuinty said.

Asked if the measure should have been taken sooner if fentanyl is “a huge problem in Canada,” as he described it, McGuinty acknowledged the listing is addressing concerns on both sides of the border.

“It’s about Canada, but it’s also about our largest trading partner, ally, commercial partner, neighbour has indicated concerns about fentanyl that we’ve taken action.”

Speaking to reporters earlier on Thursday about fentanyl trafficking, McGuinty said the terror listing gives law enforcement “additional powers to track, trace, find the financing, disrupt it, interrupt it.”

“The measures we are taking will help keep fentanyl off Canadian streets and from entering the United States,” McGuinty added.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme joined McGuinty for the announcement and confirmed cartels are operating in Canada.

“I can confirm that we do have intelligence that cartels, different cartels, operate in Canada. There’s also strong intelligence that Canadians have actually moved to Mexico and South America to facilitate the transport of certain commodities into Canada,” Duheme said.

As part of its new $1.3-billion border plan, the federal government has also appointed a “fentanyl czar” and deployed additional personnel, drones, surveillance equipment and helicopters at the border.

New data also shows that fentanyl seizures are decreasing. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, fentanyl seizures from Canada dropped 97 per cent between December 2024 and January 2025.

Canadian officials have also been highlighting for weeks that less than one per cent of fentanyl intercepted at the U.S. border comes from Canada.

Despite another tariff deadline looming, McGuinty said he is “still very optimistic” tariffs can be avoided.

“What we do know is that what we’re doing here is being followed and is understood in the United States by Donald Trump, by the administration,” McGuinty told Kapelos.