‘We have to have a spine’: Former Alta. Premier Jason Kenney says Canada should be prepared to retaliate against Trump tariffs

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says Canada should be prepared to take action should U.S. president-elect Donald Trump follow through on his tariff threat once he takes office.

Speaking with CTV News on Tuesday, Kenney said Canadians need to be smart as Trump threatens to impose sweeping 25 per cent tariffs and toys with the idea of Canada becoming “the 51st State.”

“Obviously, that stuff is designed to provoke, and I don’t think as Canadians we should take the bait,” Kenney said.

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“I don’t take this stuff lightly, but nor should we, I think, get involved in too much political theatre. We’ve got to stay focused on the basics.”

The former premier emphasized Alberta’s natural resources as a key piece in the trade negotiations.

In 2023, trade with the U.S. made up 89 per cent of the province’s exports, according to the Government of Alberta. Last year alone, Alberta exported $156.3 billion south to the United States.

“The U.S. is by far the largest focus of our exports, particularly our energy exports, and without that oil and gas, if they were to apply a 25 per cent tariff to Alberta and Canadian oil imports, it would massively increase prices at the pump for Americans who just voted for President Trump on his commitment to cut the gas prices in half,” Kenney said.

The recent uproar follows current Premier Danielle Smith’s weekend trip to Mar-a-Lago, where she met with the incoming president to discuss the tariff threat.

On the topic of potential retaliatory tariffs, Smith said it would be unwise to “threaten anything you cannot do.”

Her predecessor, however, says Canada shouldn’t just surrender to unilateral “hostility and aggression.”

“Generally, we need to be prepared to retaliate in kind to any unfair tariffs imposed on us by the United States. We can’t be wusses about this. We have to have a spine,” Kenney said.

“I don’t think that begins by taking entire segments of our export products off the table. I think we need to signal to Washington that if they damage this trading relationship with the imposition of some arbitrary tariff on Canada, then we will respond in ways that will hurt the United States.”

Earlier this week, former Prime Minister Stephen Harper also voiced his displeasure with Trump’s comments during an appearance on the Standpoint with Gabe Groisman podcast, saying he was shocked by some of the things the president-elect said.

Kenney, who served as a member of Harper’s federal cabinet for eight years, echoed some of the former prime minister’s ideas to strengthen the trading relationship with the states, including reviving the Keystone XL pipeline project.

“(Trump) was always strongly in favour of that. Apparently, he raised it with Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago,” he said.

“Let’s get him focused on that. Donald Trump is a dealmaker. Let’s make a deal in getting another pipeline done so we can actually sell them more energy, to the mutual advantage of both Alberta and the United States.”

Ever since Trump’s announcement of tariffs, supposedly coming into effect immediately following his inauguration on Jan. 20, he has had his eyes trained on Canada, making several references to the country in social media posts on Truth Social.

Trump, speaking at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago last week, refused to rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland. He was also asked if he was considering using military force to acquire Canada.

“No, economic force,” he responded. “Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something.”

“You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security. … We basically protect Canada.”

During an interview that aired Sunday on MSNBC, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada is ready to respond with retaliatory tariffs should Trump follow through with his tariff threat.

With files from Teri Fikowski, CTVNews.ca and The Canadian Press