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It is not only Alberta Premier Danielle Smith who objects to any federal plan to use export tariffs on energy or restrictions on shipments of oil and gas as a response to the U.S. president’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports. 

Now, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says he is flatly opposed to any broad-based “dollar-for-dollar” counter-tariffs, as well as to export tariffs on energy or any other products from his province, which is a major producer of potash, uranium, grains and oil.

Instead, Moe said his province only supports “very targeted” and “very small” counter-tariffs, on up to “a couple of billion dollars” on imports from the U.S. But he said the counter-tariffs would not be there to “have an impact on the economy. They’re there to change the views, and really change the hearts and minds of specific policy decision makers within the U.S.”

Trudeau said this week he supports the principle of matching Trump’s threat of “across the board” tariffs on all Canadian products with reciprocal “dollar-for-dollar” counter-tariffs. Ottawa estimates that would entail levying $150 billion worth of penalties, to match 25 per cent of the $600 billion in imported goods that Trump says he will target.

So far, however, Trudeau’s government says it will roll out a series of graduated, escalating tariffs — depending on what Trump ultimately imposes — and has made clear Canada’s strategy could include export tariffs on or curtailment of energy exports to the U.S. 

“There are other things that we can do, and those would include broader tariffs, but they would also include things like imposing some kind of duty on products like energy, and that’s not just oil and gas. That’s hydroelectricity … and on critical minerals, which includes uranium and potash and a range of other critical minerals that the United States needs from us in significant quantities. So those are all on the table,” Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson told the Star in an interview Wednesday.

Liberal leadership contenders Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland have both publicly declared support for robust “dollar-for-dollar” countermeasures.

Moe told reporters that talk of broad-based counter-tariffs is “escalating the entire conversation” with Americans and would be “hurtful to Canadians” and to efforts to achieve North American energy, food and manufacturing security.

Other federal officials have told the Star that Canada could use other measures, such as redirecting some of its federal defence procurement contracts away from U.S. suppliers to other countries, like South Korea and Japan.

Ontario and B.C. have mused about stopping orders for U.S. liquor by their provincial alcohol sales outlets.

Premiers, including Ontario’s Doug Ford and Quebec’s François Legault, called Wednesday for a wider range of responses to Trump’s trade threat, urging concerted “Buy Canadian,” “Buy Local” or “Buy Quebec” efforts, but all stopped short of calling for a boycott of U.S. goods.

“If you’re walking through a grocery store today, pick up the package and look at where it’s made, and if it’s made in the U.S., maybe you take a pass and look for something that’s made in Canada,” Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said on a radio program.

Premiers reiterated long-standing calls to drop interprovincial trade barriers, saying Canada should diversify its own markets and reduce dependence on American consumers.

Ford called Wednesday’s virtual get-together a “really productive meeting” and, pointing to Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on Canada and Mexico as soon as Feb. 1, expressed full-throated support for a robust retaliatory strategy.

“We know these tariffs are coming on Feb. 1. We need to match those tariffs, dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff, and make sure that it hurts the Americans as much as it hurts Canadians, because it’s going to hurt Canadians right across the board,” Ford said.

Asked if the premiers and prime minister were able to bring Alberta’s premier onside, Ford conceded, “not right at this point, but I think we’re moving her along.

“She understands we need to be united, and I understand that she wants to protect her main commodity, but country comes first over anything,” he said.

“You can’t throw a tool away from the tool box. As I said to the premiers, you can’t bring a knife to a gunfight. Usually, the guy with a knife loses in a gunfight.”

The reality is nobody knows exactly when Trump may order tariffs be applied, at what level, and on what products.

Despite his musings, Trump’s tariffs may not come until April 1, the deadline he set for a report on how the U.S. can eliminate trade deficits, illegal immigration and fentanyl smuggling at the northern and southern borders, and how to close gaps in the recently renegotiated North American free trade pact, which is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026.

So the question of how far Canadian counter-tariffs should go and whether Ottawa should impose export tariffs remains a critical one.

Legault said he doesn’t like the phrase “dollar-for-dollar” countermeasures because it sounds too much like an “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.”

But while he agreed that nothing should be taken off the table, Legault stressed that does not mean Quebec has given its “consent” to blocking or taxing its energy exports.

In a statement posted on social media, Smith called the virtual first ministers’ meeting “more positive this week, as there appears to be a growing consensus (though not entirely unanimous)” on several points.

She said premiers agreed on the need to demonstrate Canada’s commitment to “tighter border security and to accelerating” its commitment to meet the NATO target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence.

Smith said other provinces agreed on the need to build “more oil and gas pipelines east and west within our country,” on removing interprovincial trade barriers, and on the need for “constructive, proactive diplomacy with U.S. lawmakers rather than escalating rhetoric.” She said they also want Ottawa to secure “consent from individual provinces before cutting off or placing export tariffs on key exports from those provinces.”

In a statement after the meeting, Trudeau said “a strong, united Team Canada approach is the best way to promote Canadian interests and forge a productive relationship with the incoming administration,” and that he would meet weekly with the premiers. 

With files from Alex Ballingall