Canadian Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said U.S. lawmakers reacted positively to his pitch to strengthen energy cooperation between the two countries. He added the lawmakers he spoke to were unclear about President Donald Trump’s intentions with tariffs.
Wilkinson was in Washington, D.C., this week, where he said he met with members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.
The visit followed Trump’s decision to put a 30-day pause on tariffs for Canada to assess the measures Ottawa is putting in place to bolster border security and combat fentanyl trafficking.
Wilkinson said he didn’t get much insight from his U.S. interlocutors on what else Trump could be looking for in deciding whether to impose tariffs after the 30-day pause is over.
“Certainly it’s not clear to a lot of folks at the present time exactly what the president is aiming for,” he said during a briefing call with reporters on Feb. 6. “Even senior Republican senators are somewhat unclear about some of those issues.”
The minister said the border was “certainly” a “big area of concern” and noted Trump has been raising the issue of a U.S. trade imbalance with Canada. Wilkinson and others have said that the United States has a trade surplus with Canada when energy imports are removed from the equation.
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Trump had also expressed concerns about U.S. financial institutions being excluded from Canada’s banking sector. U.S. banks have a presence in Canada on the commercial and investment side, but personal banking is dominated by the “big six” Canadian banks.
Wilkinson said the issue of banking did not come up during his conversations in Washington.
Trump criticized Canada’s banking rules on the morning of Feb. 3 after a first call that day with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to discuss the announced U.S. tariffs and Canada’s retaliation plan. He also mentioned an ongoing “drug war,” saying drugs are “pouring” into the U.S. from Mexico and Canada.
The two leaders held a second call later that day, after which Trudeau announced additional measures to the federal border security plan. Trump paused the tariffs for 30 days to assess Canadian border measures.
Several Trump officials have pushed back on the idea the United States wants to engage in a trade war with its neighbours, instead characterizing the issue as a “drug war.”
“The difference between Mexico and Canada thus far is that Canada thinks we’re fighting a trade war with them,” said Peter Navarro, assistant to the president and director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy. “That’s not the case. This is a drug war.”
Trump’s pick for U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer also told his Senate confirmation hearing on Feb. 6 that the tariff threat against Canada is about the trafficking of fentanyl, a power synthetic opioid which has devastated communities on both sides of the border.
Trump’s initial tariff threat made in November mentioned drug smuggling and illegal migration coming from Canada and Mexico.
‘Win-Win’
While the threat of tariffs still hangs overhead, Wilkinson said he went to the U.S. capital to pitch a “win-win” situation where both countries benefit from increased trade instead of a “lose-lose” scenario where tariffs hit the bottom line of citizens and businesses on both sides of the border.
“Rather than talking about tariffs, Canada could assist the new administration with some of the things it campaigned on, including keeping energy prices low, including enhancing national security vis-à-vis China and Russia,” he said.
He added this would also help Trump achieve his stated objective of U.S. “energy dominance” by receiving more hydrocarbons from Canada to export to world markets, leading to job creation and economic opportunity in Canada.
On the flip side, Wilkinson said being so dependent on the U.S. market is a vulnerability, but didn’t say whether he’d support expanding the domestic pipeline infrastructure.
“I’m not being prescriptive in terms of saying necessarily we need to do this [expand pipelines], but I do think it’s a conversation the premiers and the prime minister will want to have, and of course, that will need to necessarily involve engagement with indigenous communities,” he said.
Wilkinson also spoke of expanding germanium supply out of B.C., a critical mineral used as a semiconductor and for some defence applications. China banned germanium exports to the U.S. amid trade tensions in December.
“The reception I received from folks was generally very, very positive in terms of trying to turn this conversation in a more constructive direction,” said Wilkinson.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
