{"id":179181,"date":"2026-08-23T00:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T00:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179181\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T00:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T00:13:07","slug":"as-premiers-rally-behind-carney-in-trade-dispute-albertas-smith-questions-retaliation-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/179181\/","title":{"rendered":"As premiers rally behind Carney in trade dispute, Alberta\u2019s Smith questions retaliation plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, participates in a signing ceremony with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary, Alta., May 15. Smith has long argued against countertariffs and resisted calls for her government to do more to hit back against the United States.Jeff McIntosh\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on Saturday cautioned against Canada applying retaliatory tariffs as the country\u2019s trade war with the United States escalates, but stopped short of demanding Prime Minister Mark Carney reject the option.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, emotionally, it feels good to retaliate. I get that. But let\u2019s remember what happens when we retaliate,\u201d Ms. Smith said during her regular talk radio appearance on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen retaliation happens, it means everybody who is buying products from the United States are now going to face upwards to 50 per cent tariffs. And they are talking about that being on steel, on dairy, on appliances, on agriculture equipment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Smith kicked off her radio appearance by addressing the federal government\u2019s decision to pull out of trade talks with the United States late Friday evening. Canada was trying to head off the U.S. applying 50-per-cent tariffs on US$20-billion worth of goods. Mr. Carney said Canada would retaliate with dollar-for-dollar tariffs<\/a> on American imports beginning after Labour Day.<\/p>\n

While Ms. Smith agreed with her fellow premiers<\/a> that the Prime Minister was right to withdraw from the negotiations, her government remains skeptical of retaliatory measures. Her chief of staff, on social media<\/a>, called countertariffs a \u201cknee-jerk\u201d reaction that would only hurt Canadians.<\/p>\n

Retaliatory tariffs could be dangerous for both Canada and U.S., trade experts warn<\/a><\/p>\n

Ms. Smith has long argued against countertariffs and resisted calls for her government to do more to hit back against the United States. She previously rejected suggestions Canada could strike back by placing tariffs on energy exports, arguing Alberta\u2019s economy would bear the brunt of the economic fallout.<\/p>\n

And while her government initially joined other provinces in removing American alcohol from shelves at the start of the trade war, Alberta and Saskatchewan were the first to reverse that policy more than a year ago.<\/p>\n

Ms. Smith, however, supported Mr. Carney\u2019s decision to walk away from the negotiating table. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were just a couple of key demands from the United States that made it really untenable for us to sign off,\u201d she said on Saturday. \u201cIt would have been too painful.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also applauded the federal government\u2019s strategy to hold off on countertariffs until after Labour Day. The window, she said, is Canada giving the United States an out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the Prime Minister saying: \u2018Come on, guys, let\u2019s see if we can figure this out over the next two weeks.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Premier\u2019s political base is in rural Alberta, where she is popular with farmers, ranchers, and those working in the energy industry. She said on her radio program that she is especially worried about tariffs on agricultural machinery.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be cheering if our farmers have to pay 50 per cent more for all the equipment that they need to produce our food,\u201d Ms. Smith said. \u201cThat is not a success.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Ms. Smith and Alberta\u2019s governing United Conservative Party have argued that Ottawa favours the east\u2019s auto industry over the west\u2019s energy sector, she touted the auto sector as \u201cvitally important\u201d to the Canadian economy and \u201cvitally important\u201d to manufacturing in Ontario.<\/p>\n

Analysis: America is really being a bad friend<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that they can get back to the table to negotiate something that\u2019s more fair,\u201d Ms. Smith said about the breakdown in negotiations surrounding autos. \u201cBut we have to understand how important that is to Ontario, as an engine of their economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alberta exported $151.5-billion worth of goods to the United States in 2025, with crude petroleum accounting for $110.8-billion, or 73 per cent, of those exports. By way of context, the province\u2019s global exports hit $176.75-billion in 2025, according to provincial data.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump has avoided slapping tariffs on the oil and gas it imports from Canada.<\/p>\n

Ms. Smith noted only about 3 per cent of Alberta\u2019s exports to the United States are exposed to the current tariffs. The provincial government, she said, expects the new tariffs to apply to about $1.5-billion worth of Alberta\u2019s trade with the U.S. <\/p>\n

\u201cI worry about the viability of some of those furniture companies and honeymakers,\u201d she said. \u201cI welcome the federal government saying that they\u2019re going to come up with a package of support.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not directly answer a question from the radio show\u2019s host about whether Alberta would create its own support program. Her cabinet is scheduled to meet Tuesday, she said.<\/p>\n

What Trump\u2019s new tariffs mean for Canada\u2019s economy<\/a><\/p>\n

The Premier\u2019s chief of staff, Rob Anderson, was more pointed in his criticism of Canada\u2019s negotiating strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would we punch our own Canadian businesses, workers and consumers in the face just because the U.S. is doing so to their own businesses, workers and consumers,\u201d he wrote on social media Friday evening. \u201cDon\u2019t give in to knee-jerk actions that feel good in the moment but only hurt ourselves. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to be smarter not more tough guy-er.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mr. Carney risks alienating Ms. Smith and spurring support for Alberta\u2019s separatist movement if Canada uses oil as a negotiating tool in trade talks with the United States. The Premier, along with separatist advocates, blame Ottawa for stymying Alberta\u2019s energy industry, sacrificing the province\u2019s potential in exchange for the east\u2019s economic prospects and political support.<\/p>\n

Albertans will vote on Oct. 19 in a province-wide referendum, choosing between staying in Canada or kickstarting the legal process to separate from the rest of the country. Ms. Smith said if the separatist side prevails, she expects a binding referendum on separation<\/a> could follow in the spring of 2027. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, participates in a signing ceremony with Alberta Premier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":179182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,111,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":["post-179181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-mark-carney","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}