Smith says Canada should ‘stop making excuses,’ address Trump concerns to avoid tariffs

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith talks about extending the 30-day freeze on U.S. tariffs by addressing fentanyl and other issues that are irritating the U.S.

The premier of Alberta says if Canada wants to avoid U.S.-imposed tariffs on Canadian imports in a month’s time, federal and provincial governments should “stop making excuses” and heed U.S. President Donald Trump’s border security demands.

“He wants us to recognize that Canada enjoys a very special relationship with the U.S. that no other country in the world enjoys, and just show the respect of taking seriously the fact that they’ve got people dying and they want it to stop,” Danielle Smith said, referencing the fentanyl overdose crisis, Trump’s stated reasoning for the tariff threat.

In an interview on CTV’s Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Tuesday, Smith said the comparison many Canadian officials are making — that the amount of fentanyl seized at the Canada-U.S. border is a fraction of that seized at the Mexico-U.S. border — is “not a very persuasive argument.”

“We should stop making excuses,” Smith said. “Stop saying, ‘Yeah, but we’re not as bad as the other guys.’ We should just say, ‘Yes, we agree, and we’re going to take care of our part of the issue, so you don’t have to worry about us anymore.’”

When pressed by Kapelos on accepting Trump’s characterization of the border and drug issue rather than pushing back with the facts, Smith insisted her approach would lead to a better outcome.

“I think it’s just a serious issue for me in my province as it is for the Americans in their country, and that we’ve got to crack down on it, and this is our opportunity,” she said.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, only 43 pounds of fentanyl has been seized at the Canada-U.S. border in the past year, compared to 21,148 pounds at its southern border with Mexico. CBP statistics suggest less than one per cent of fentanyl seized by authorities in the U.S. comes from Canada.

Trump signed an executive order on Saturday that would implement a 25 per cent across-the-board tariff on Canadian imports, and a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy, as of Tuesday.

Following two phone calls with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday — the pair’s first conversations since Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 — the president said he’d delay the tariffs pending progress on Canada’s border plan.

“Canada has agreed to ensure we have a secure northern border,” Trump announced on Truth Social, adding the tariffs he announced on Saturday “will be paused for a 30-day period to see whether or not a final economic deal with Canada can be structured.”

Amid Trump’s early assertion that border security is the main reason for the tariffs, Canada earmarked $1.3 billion in the fall economic statement to add resources.

The federal government then laid out its new border plan late in December, which includes helicopters, drones and surveillance towers, and pledges 24-7 surveillance between ports of entry, among other measures.

“Through Canada’s Border Plan, we’re deploying thousands more frontline personnel to the border, launching a precursor chemical detection unit, and building a new drug profiling centre to combat the fentanyl trade,” Trudeau wrote in a social media post on Tuesday. “This drug trade is a global, deadly issue — and Canada is tackling it head-on.”

Smith said “hopefully” the 30-day extension will give Canada time to make “enough progress that we can move on to some of the other issues.”

‘There are two tariffs’: Smith

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office between the first and second calls with Trudeau on Monday, Trump restated his desire to see Canada become the “51st state,” adding that should that occur, “there would be some pain, but not a lot.”

He also repeated his assertions of an unfair trade deficit with Canada.

“I look at some of the deals made. I say, ‘Who the hell made these deals? They’re so bad.’”

The current Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) free trade agreement was signed by Trump during his first term in office, and according to the Canadian government, data indicates when energy exports are excluded, the U.S. has a trade surplus with Canada.

When asked by Kapelos whether she believes extending the pause on tariffs is predicated on action at the border — despite Trump’s comments about CUSMA and wanting to annex Canada — Smith said there are “two conversations” happening between Canada and the U.S. administrations, and “two tariffs.”

“One conversation is the tariffs related to fentanyl, and the second conversation is all of the irritations that the administration has with the CUSMA agreement, and I don’t think we should intermingle those two,” Smith said.

She’s also calling for a federal election sooner rather than later.

Trudeau announced on Jan. 6 he would be stepping down as Liberal leader and prime minister. The race to replace him is now underway in earnest, with the new leader set to be announced on March 9.

The opposition parties, meanwhile, have committed to voting to bring down the government at the earliest possible opportunity, once Parliament comes back from prorogation at the end of March.

“I think we’ve got to address the fentanyl issue to avoid the 25 per cent tariffs, and then the second stage is having an election so we can have a government that can spend four years renegotiating the CUSMA,” Smith told Kapelos.

The Alberta premier pointed to issues such as the digital media tax, the banking industry, telecoms, and supply management as a few that are “irritating to the Americans.”

“Those keep coming up, but those can only be resolved in the context of a broader renegotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico free trade agreement, and that’s not scheduled to be done until 2026, so we need an election,” she said. “We can’t have one prime minister start those discussions, a second prime minister carry it a few yards, and then a final prime minister negotiates it.”

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello