Facing the spectre of new tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump in less than a month, Canada’s premiers stressed the importance of a unified front Wednesday. The premiers annual summer conference in P.E.I. was upended after Trump signed orders to increase tariffs by 50 per cent on a wide variety of goods ranging from hockey sticks to honey to cement. “A single arrow can be broken easily, but a bundle of arrows cannot be snapped,” said Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, speaking about the importance of a cohesive and co-ordinated Canadian response from Charlottetown on Wednesday. However, just what that response will look like remains unclear. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is pushing for diplomacy, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford has mused about retaliatory tariffs on energy, and says he’s not ruling out using his province’s electricity as part of the Canadian arsenal. “Everything’s on the table. We can’t keep rolling over for Donald Trump,” Ford said. B.C. Premier David Eby also supports retaliatory tariffs. “If the prime minister calls British Columbia and says he needs support with some big sticks to have conversations at the table—then we’ll be there.” Eby also said Trump can’t continue to hammer B.C.’s softwood lumber industry with tariffs while exempting other resources. “We need to be frank with the Americans that they will not get the kind of access that they seek to what’s in Canada if this is how the conduct is going to go,” he said. The new tariffs would indeed exempt oil, potash and critical minerals, but impose 50 per cent duties on other Canadian goods—including plywood. It’s a threat that has already caused pain in the struggling industry. “The decision on Monday means they’ve slowed down in going ahead with those decisions to bring in more raw materials, which means less logs coming into there operations,” said Brian Menzies, the head of the Independent Wood Processor’s Association. The U.S. says the tariffs will be applied Aug. 19 and without exemptions. The premiers meet Thursday with Prime Minister Mark Carney. It will be the last day of the summit and the first formal, in-person chance to formulate a counterattack. With files from The Canadian Press With files from The Canadian Press
