Alberta NDP leader Naheed Nenshi has sided with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “Team Canada” stance on fighting President-elect Donald Trump’s anticipated 25% tariffs.
Though other premiers have signed a joint statement with the prime minister to that effect, Premier Danielle Smith says she is on “Team Alberta” and has in the last several weeks publicly made inroads with the incoming administration.
While Ottawa and most premiers want to “fight” the imminent tariff threat, Smith wants to strengthen relationships and work directly with the Americans.
Smith recently went to Mar-A-Lago to meet with Trump and will attends his inauguration on Monday. She’s also made multiple appearances on Fox News and worked with American counterparts in Montana to increase border security, which Trump cited as the reason for the steep tariffs.
In a video he posted of himself at Fort McMurray, one of Alberta’s key oil and gas zones, to social media Wednesday night, Nenshi claims Smith is “not accomplishing anything.”
“We have a lot to do, and the premier hasn’t shown any interest in doing that work,” he said.
Trudeau after Wednesday’s meeting with the premiers said he wouldn’t rule out using Alberta oil and gas to leverage a tariff war with the United States.
"We have made it very clear that everything is on the table as potential responses, but we've also been very very clear that it has to be fair across the country," he said.
Smith in a statement countered, "Until these threats cease, Alberta will not be able to fully support the federal government’s plan in dealing with the threatened tariffs.”
“Alberta will simply not agree to export tariffs on our energy or other products, nor do we support a ban on exports of these same products,” she wrote.
Smith was the only premier not to sign the joint statement.
Alberta in 2024 exported about $124 billion in crude oil to the US, and $122 billion in 2023. In July 2024, approximately 4.3 million barrels were exported to the US per day.