Republican senator says he thinks North American trade pact will protect Canada from Trump’s tariffs

As Canadian officials brace for president-elect Donald Trump to impose punishing global tariffs, a Republican senator from Idaho says he thinks the current North American free trade pact will protect Canada from those tariffs.

In an interview with CBC’s The House, U.S. Sen. Jim Risch said that “Republicans generally are free trade. On the other hand, you do sometimes have to level the playing field.”

Trump has called for a minimum tariff of 10 per cent on all imports entering the United States. According to different estimates, his plan could cost Canada’s economy anywhere from 0.4 per cent of GDP to a devastating five per cent.

When asked by host Catherine Cullen whether the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) would protect Canada from Trump’s proposed tariffs, Risch said, “I think so.”

“I would say that all U.S. citizens are familiar with the importance that Canada holds in the flow of trade. And trade is good for everybody,” he added.

The senator also questioned whether the incoming administration will impose tariffs on all imports entering the United States.

“I really believe that’s not going to happen,” Risch said, adding that “tariffs generally are a rifled approach — that is, you go after a particular product of industry where there’s an imbalance.”

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On Tuesday, Trump announced on social media that he had chosen Howard Lutnick, head of the brokerage and investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald and a cryptocurrency enthusiast, as his nominee for commerce secretary.

In the post, Trump said Lutnick “will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional directive responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”

During the U.S. presidential campaign, Lutnick said the tariff threat will force other countries to sit down with the U.S. and drop their trade barriers. He also said on CNBC that Trump knows not to tax goods the U.S. doesn’t produce on its own.

Canada’s defence spending and Ukraine

In February, Trump said he would encourage Russia to do “whatever” it wants to NATO allies that don’t meet the alliance’s spending target, which stipulates that member states should spend two per cent of their GDP on defence.

In July, under intense pressure from U.S. lawmakers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Canada could meet the spending benchmark by 2032.

Risch panned the promise and said “2032 is not satisfactory to Donald Trump. It isn’t satisfactory to me.” He also said that European countries with smaller economies than Canada’s are meeting the spending target. 

“We need to all do that,” Risch said. “And that includes Canada, who’s a good friend and a good ally. But we all need to pull the wagon together.”

Trump’s upcoming presidency could also have major effects on Russia’s war in Ukraine. On the campaign trail, Trump said the U.S. should “get out” of the war and that he’ll “get it negotiated.”

The United States does not have troops in Ukraine but has given billions of dollars in military and humanitarian assistance to the embattled country.

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Risch said both Russia and Ukraine will need to “very carefully listen” to Trump because he “holds cards that are important to both parties.”

When asked whether Ukraine needs to accept that it will have to give up certain territories like Crimea, Risch said that “Ukraine has to accept nothing from us.”

Risch said Russia lost the war when it failed to take over Kyiv and install a puppet government.

“That’s behind us,” he said. “What the terms of the end of the fighting are is another issue. And that’s something that only the Ukrainians can make a decision on.”

Deportations and Canada’s border

Trump has also promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants upon taking office. That’s prompted Canadian officials and the RCMP to prepare for the possibility of a wave of migrants travelling north to Canada.

It’s not guaranteed that Trump will actually carry out the mass deportation, but his allies have mentioned Canada as a potential destination if the undocumented are forced out of the United States.

Risch said he “can’t imagine that Canada is going to get caught up in the sweep of this. There’s not going to be people being deported by the millions to Canada. That’s not going to happen.”

The senator also said the United States is “a nation of immigrants, much like Canada is. We need immigration, but it needs to come through the front door. It needs to be regulated.”

After Trump’s election win, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said that “Canada controls our borders” and the federal government has a “plan to ensure” the border is secure.

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In an interview with Catherine Cullen, host of CBC Radio’s The House, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said her message to the rest of the world is that Canada welcomes newcomers in an ‘organized, systematic way.’