Quebec will provide up to $50 million in liquidity loans to local businesses vulnerable to U.S. tariffs in a bid to help them reduce their reliance on trade with the United States, Premier François Legault has announced.
Legault is forecasting as many as 160,000 jobs could be lost in the province if the tariffs are maintained long-term.
Legault’s prediction and funding announcement came the hours after U.S. President Donald Trump implemented a 25 percent blanket tariff on Canadian goods, along with a 10 percent tax on energy products.
Legault described the tariffs as an “unjustified” attack on the Canadian economy during a March 4 press conference in Montreal.
“We need to keep a cool head, but we also want to be very clear: We are not going to let ourselves be intimidated by Donald Trump,” he said, noting that the province plans to focus on diversification and job creation.
Quebec is planning infrastructure projects and is collaborating with Hydro Quebec to create more jobs, but its main goal is to shore up Quebec companies with loans as they adjust to new trade realities, he said.
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Company loans will be handed out over the next 12 months as part of the “Frontière” program, Legault said. The loans will come with a maximum term of seven years and companies will have a grace period of two years before they must start making payments.
The premier also urged companies interested in expansion to apply for funding with Investissement Québec, the province’s investment agency.
“We need to reshape Quebec’s economy,” Legault said. “Even if it will be tough, I think at the end, in one year, two years, our economy will be stronger, less dependent on the United States. So our economy will be a new economy, but a more solid economy.”
One of the ways Quebec is looking at changing its economic focus is through increased trade with other provinces.
Legault said he is currently working with Ontario Premier Doug Ford to examine trade improvements on a “sector-by-sector” basis between their provinces.
“I think that we are better—Quebec, Ontario and the rest of Canada—to amortize fixed costs of different companies over a market of 41 million people, instead of keeping our own market, nine million in Quebec, maybe 15 [million] in Ontario,” he said. “It’s good for both of us to share some products and help each other to replace a part of the U.S. market.”
Retaliatory Measures
While Legault said his primary focus is on beefing up his province’s economy, he is also implementing some retaliatory measures against the United States and may consider more in the future.
Quebec’s liquor corporation, the SAQ, will be removing all American alcohol products from its shelves and will cease supply of such products for grocery stores, agencies, bars, and restaurants, the premier said.
The province is also encouraging Quebec businesses to stop selling American products and is encouraging residents to buy Quebec products as much as possible.
American companies bidding on public tenders in Quebec will also be penalized, he said. Penalties of up to 25 percent will be levied on bids from U.S. companies that engage in public tender processes if the firms are not already established in Quebec.
The premier was asked if the province planned to cut off the energy that Hydro-Québec supplies to New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
The province is looking into the legal feasibility of such a move, Legault said, adding that his government doesn’t plan to “exclude anything” in its tariff response.
For its part, Ottawa has promised to slap $155 billion worth of tariffs on American goods in response to U.S. tariffs. The initial phase involves tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods, effective March 4, while the remaining $125 billion in tariffs will take effect in three weeks.
Trump has subsequently vowed to match counter-tariffs from Canada with reciprocal tariffs.
The United States has yet to implement the reciprocal tariff, but more taxes are on the way. The White House has said a 25 percent tariff will be placed on all steel and aluminum products entering the United States starting March 12.
The Trump administration is also in the process of reviewing the trade practices of all countries interacting with the United States, with plans to impose reciprocal tariffs come April.
