Premiers have been meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau throughout the last several hours. The meeting has ended now. The goal was to devise a joint response to Donald Trump's potential tariffs and possibly a retaliation, because as early as Monday, the President Elect could slap a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods New Brunswick. Premier Susan Holt was in those meetings, and she joins us now from old city hall here in Ottawa, Premier Holt is good to speak with you. Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me, David.
He was a very united front, with an except notable exception today. What does Daniel Smith, the premier of Alberta's refusal to sign on to this common plan, say about where things stand for Team Canada and dealing with Donald Trump?
Well, I think they show that Team Canada is unified in a shared goal. We are going to fight these tariffs, and we all agree that the outcome that we're looking for is to eliminate them, ideally prevent them from happening, and eliminate them as quickly as possible. None of us are excited about the prospect of tariffs on our own economy. And so we all agree on that as well. I think there was real strong collaboration and discussion, and I think everyone agreed on the next steps. And so I think that that's a that's a great place to work from.
I'm being told that you looked at not $1 for dollar retaliation against the full value of what Donald Trump has threatened, because that would be enormous and even more crippling than what the 25% might do. But it's somewhere around 150 billion Canadian dollars in tariffs that were discussed by the premiers today. Bloomberg now reporting 105 billion, which I assume is the US value. Is that kind of where you've landed?
We put a lot of different options on the table and identified what our best first step would be, should the tariffs come into place, and it's going to depend on what those tariffs look like, because we still don't know whether it's going to be a broad based 25% tariff across the economy, or whether it will be applied specifically to certain goods, And so we have a number of different options available to us in response, depending on the severity of the action from from the Trump administration. And so we discussed all sorts of options of all sorts of different values, but we need to see what the President is actually going to do first, and then we're ready to respond accordingly. Are
you worried at all, though, Premier by what Daniel Smith has said, because, you know, even Francois Legault said that you've agreed not to exclude anything, right, that you want to have as United a front with as many options as possible on the table. Doug Ford said you need to think about region, but country comes first, because he's coming for all of us, and it's, quite frankly, his auto sector, as the Prime Minister pointed out, that was directly targeted by President Trump. But if the premier of Alberta is saying, don't touch our energy that creates domestic challenges as well as these cross border challenges, are you worried about what this does to unity and your ability to respond to this?
Well, I can understand the feeling, right each of us, as premiers and as Doug Ford and Francois Legault demonstrated, we have unique economies, and there's different things that will hurt us in different ways, and all of our instincts are to protect our provinces. I certainly am here to fight for new Brunswickers and for what's in their best interest. What's in their best interest is a strong Canada and is eliminating the tariffs. So we have to make sure that we have the tools available to us, even if just the threat of the use of those tools could be effective in in the fight against these tariffs. And so we know what we want to do first, we know what we don't want to do unless we have to do it. But there is right now. We can't predict what's going to happen with the President, and we need to be prepared to react in the way that is going to limit the damage in the Canadian economy and eliminate the tariffs as quickly as possible. That's our shared goal, and I believe premier Smith shares the same objective. But, but do you think
her objection to the to using Alberta Oil removes that, the threat of that from the toolbox for Team Canada? This is not something that can credibly be argued because of this, this dissent from her today.
Well, I think Team Canada is going to be meeting on a very regular basis, including next week, as soon as we know whether the tariffs have been put in place and what they look like, we're going to be back together to devise the exact approach that we're going to take then, and then when it's time to take another step, then we're all going to be back together talking about what We can agree to do at that time, and so I think it's possibly premature. I think we are all unified in the conversation today. We're all unified in the next steps. We're unified in the objective, and we all recognize the need to support each other's provinces, and that the best way to do that is to work as one team Canada. Well,
certainly we heard from the Prime Minister today that no sector or region should carry an unfair burden, and that's sort of a core principle that you all agreed to there. How reassured Are you on that, that there's the financial weight or the financial resources there? Excuse me, to compensate affected sectors, affected provinces and affected workers, should it come to that?
Well, that is something that we talked about today, and there's more conversation to be had on the kind of supports that we can put in place through the federal government and in partnership with the provinces to support new Brunswickers and Canadians who might see their jobs impacted or their companies impacted. And so we have to, we have to look at the impact that that could have on our economy, that the kind of loss of jobs and work and how we best support it, as we would do during any other time. I think, I think the kind of package that was put together and proposed by the federal government is strong, is strategic. It's focused on how we can inject the most pain to the targeted Americans that reduces the risk and the impact of the Canadian economy. I think that's the right strategy. I think the federal government has done good work on that, and we look forward to working with them on the supports that we can put should the tariffs have their projected impact on on new Brunswickers and on Canadians. Okay,
one last question, Premier, after a lot of skepticism about the border plan, Doug Ford was briefed on it yesterday by Minister Leblanc. He called it phenomenal, which was not a phrase we've heard many premiers uttering about the federal response. What is your assessment of the border plan, as sort of articulated today by Minister McGinty, Minister Miller, and what you heard in private from the Prime Minister?
Oh, well, I share premier Ford's views. It's a strong plan. It's focused on the kinds of things that are going to benefit Canadians and help improve our security. Honestly, my concerns with the border, particularly that New Brunswick shares with Maine, is more of what's coming into our country from the US than what's going the other way. But they've put together a thoughtful program that's going to help us get at that as well. And put resources where we need them to keep a new Brunswickers in Canadians safe.
De Broglie premier Susan Holt always appreciate the time. Thanks for being here in a busy day.
