USA

As Canadian politicians try to come up with a response to Donald Trump’s tariff threat, a sticking point has emerged over a significant Canadian retaliatory option: limiting exports of Canadian oil and gas to the U.S.

The majority of Canada’s oil exports, largely produced in Alberta, go to the United States. And Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has flatly refused to entertain the option of cutting off that supply to American refineries if Trump slaps a 25-per-cent tariff on all Canadian goods, including gas and oil.

“Continental energy security” was the watchword of both governments and industry for much of the past quarter century in North America: the idea that by linking the U.S. and Canada in a tight web of pipelines and refineries, both countries would protect themselves from threats and hostile trade actions that — it was assumed — would come from outside North America.

The website of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers is still littered with references to the now-obsolete notion that increasing interdependence with the U.S. would make Canada safer: “Over the past decade, Canada has strengthened its continental energy security by reducing reliance on overseas oil and increasing the share of imports from the United States.”

“Continental energy security” remains the right approach.

TORONTO — The weeks since Liam Mooney and Emma Cochrane dreamt up a viral hat meant to fend off any notion that Canada will be taken over by the U.S. has been more of a crash course in manufacturing than in politics.

The pair of Ottawa-based marketers behind the “Canada is not for sale” hats made famous by Ontario Premier Doug Ford last week say they’ve realized how difficult it is to produce a ball cap fully made in Canada.

“Imagine you’re a snake and you’re trying to consume a giant bowling ball. That’s what we’ve been experiencing here,” said Mooney, co-founder of business consultancy Jackpine Dynamic Branding.

The hit that Canada’s garment industry took was called “Free Trade”.

Canadians younger than 55 do not have a deep emotional attachment to Canada, according to an Angus Reid survey, and their attachment is conditional on the country providing a good standard of living. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (and Jean Chrétien before him) were maybe right to characterize Canada as a postnational state. Canadians may thus be willing to integrate with the U.S., as President Donald Trump has repeatedly mused, if they become convinced it would raise their quality of life.

U.S. President Donald Trump says his country does not need to import Canadian oil, gas, autos or lumber.

“We’re going to be demanding respect from other nations … Canada has been very tough to deal with over the years,” he told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, appearing via video conference before an audience of the world’s most powerful business and political leaders.