Canada’s trade chief warns oil and gas exports could be in play

If President-elect Donald Trump follows through with his threat to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, Ottawa is prepared to retaliate with levies that could take aim at the energy sector, Canada’s minister of international trade, Mary Ng, said Thursday.

“Everything is on the table,” Ng told global markets reporter Seema Mody on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”

This includes dollar-to-dollar retaliation. Canada’s trade chief also refused to rule out an export tax on Canadian oil and gas bound for the United States.

“I don’t actually think Americans want us to not be selling electricity, oil and gas to America, because you know, I’m here in New York, the lights on Broadway, lots of it is Canadian electricity,” said Ng.

“If you’re going to put tariffs on Canada, what it actually will do is make things more expensive for Americans,” she added.

Trump has threatened a 25% blanket tariff on all Canadian exports when he takes office Monday. The threat is similar to one made towards Mexico, the three parties to the USMCA trade agreement. Trump has also talked about increasing tariffs on Chinese imports by 10%.

Canada and the United States have a trade relationship that is practically unrivaled. In 2022, Canada was the largest purchaser of American goods and the third-largest exporter of goods to the U.S.

Ng and her team are currently drafting a list of U.S. exports to Canada that could see additional tariffs in the event that trade tensions escalate. “Everything is going to be on the table,” she said.

The same goes for Canadian goods that enter the United States.

“You can pretty much be sure that if you’re buying something [at a] supermarket… think about a candy bar. There’s probably some Canadian in there. So if you’re paying $4 today, you might be paying $5 tomorrow,” said Ng.

The potential threat of a looming trade war with the United States is also prompting Ottawa to continue engaging with the rest of its trade partners around the globe, including Japan and the European Union.

“I have always had the mandate as Canada’s trade ministry to diversify,” Ng told CNBC. “It’s really great for us to be doing work with America, but, absolutely, we also need to be pursuing opportunities around the world. And we are.”

This is not the first time Trump has used tariff threats in an effort to restart trade negotiations with America’s northern neighbor.

During his first term, Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum exports to the U.S.

The move prompted Ottawa to announce retaliatory levies on U.S. products like beef, chocolate, ketchup and more.

At the time, Canada made no secret of its selection criteria for which U.S. exports to hit with additional tariffs. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government deliberately chose products from politically potent places, like battleground states and those with powerful representatives in Congress.

The idea was that any adverse economic impacts resulting from a drop in exports would be felt most acutely by the people in the communities that made or grew the products. They, in turn, would put added pressure on their elected representatives in Washington — including Trump, who was running for a second term — to resolve the tensions.

This time around, Ng said Canada is looking to “find more common ground” before any escalation. She also said that Ottawa is working to better secure the border between the U.S. and Canada. This could help Trump to fulfill a key pledge he made on the campaign trail.

“I think we have a very unique opportunity right now for Canada and the United States to build an even stronger economy, a stronger North American economy, by working together,” Ng said.

Increasing this collaboration could include buying more from the United States, Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the United States told the Associated Press on Monday. Seventy percent of Canada’s military hardware is procured from the U.S., said Hillman.

When it comes to purchasing more military equipment, “Everything is on the table,” Ng told CNBC, from fighter jets to drones.

Canada is currently in the midst of a leadership shake-up. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned earlier this month. Trudeau’s resignation came only weeks after his former ally and deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland also stepped down.

In announcing her resignation, Freeland, who was also the country’s finance minister, cited differences with Trudeau over the direction of Canada’s trade policy toward the United States.