On Day 1 of Trump’s trade war, Danielle Smith held back her fire

Jason Markusoff · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 04, 2025 8:03 PM EST | Last Updated: March 5

On the day Donald Trump dragged Canadians and Americans into a trade war, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it’s a “very dumb” thing the U.S. president did.

In the words of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, Trump had “just stabbed America’s best friend in the back” and slapped on a “new American gas tax” by tariffing Canadian oil.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford ripped up a $100-million internet service deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink, said he’s ready to throw a surtax on electricity exports and encouraged other energy-producing provinces to do the same.

“We need to make sure America feels the pain,” Ford said. 

Manitoba’s Wab Kinew had a Mar-a-Lago-dance-floor-sized flag draped from the legislature in Winnipeg, and he pledged tax deferrals for the businesses harmed in the trade war.

Kentucky bourbons and California merlots were yanked off liquor store shelves from coast to coast, with the odd exception.

Alberta was one of those odd exceptions.

On a day marked by big reactions to a massive economic blow against Canada, Danielle Smith’s message was comparably small and quiet.

She set herself apart from her peers by not addressing Albertans or the Alberta media on the day a 25 per cent U.S. tariff hit all Canadian exports, except for oil and gas shipments taxed at 10 per cent.

Smith was interviewed by U.S. business channel CNBC at the same time that Trudeau was fielding questions after his speech in Ottawa.

After the interview aired the premier’s office posted her written statement criticizing the U.S. tariffs and promising some sort of provincial retaliation or supportive response the next day.

She told American TV the tariffs were “so disappointing.” If anyone in her Canadian audience found that an understatement, she went farther in the printed statement, calling Trump’s action “both foolish and a failure in every regard.”

Not quite the headline-grabbing “dumb” remark that Trudeau ripped from a Wall Street Journal editorial, but nor was it concessionary from the premier who had long emphasized diplomacy. 

The premier has taken heat for not always sticking on Team Canada as this war simmered, but now that it’s boiling she struck a note of solidarity: “Alberta fully supports the federal response announced today by the prime minister,” she said, in reference to Ottawa’s initial $30 billion worth of counter-tariffs on U.S. products that took effect Tuesday. 

She mentioned in that missive the prospect of thousands of job losses on both sides of the border. But she did not directly address Albertans or their anxieties — nothing of the sort that Poilievre’s speech offered: “You are afraid right now, and I understand. I want you to know that I will fight for you.”

Smith had, of course, expressed reluctance to talk about fighting back or retaliating as she spent months on repeated visits to U.S. politicians, focused on preventing the economic damage Trump had threatened.

She’s had among the most cross-border trips of any premier since the threats began in November, even making the trip to Mar-a-Lago to shake the president’s hand a couple times.

“There will have to be a response [but] I don’t think it’s helpful to negotiate that in public,” Smith said in January.

Ottawa and other provinces were already done negotiating, and on Day 1 had already laid out their initial responses to the exact tariffs that Trump had, for a month, threatened to apply on Canada by March 4 (and plans which the president had confirmed in recent days).

Smith stated she’d still have to convene her cabinet on Tuesday and Wednesday to determine the first stage of reactive measures — and her counterpart in the other big petroleum-exporting province, Saskatchewan, said he would also need a day.

Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi charged the premier “is hiding, desperately trying to craft a plan that should have been in the works since Trump told her to pound sand.”

Alberta could have matched the liquor-supply reaction of other provinces. And before you can point out this province has a purely private retail system, let’s recall that all Alberta sales are centralized through Alberta Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis, and AGLC was directed to stop all wholesale purchases of Russian liquor within days of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nothing came immediately during the opening salvos of this trade war, even if other Canadian leaders had already begun shooting.

“I mean, we don’t want to escalate, we don’t want to retaliate, but we have no choice but to have an equal and proportionate response,” Smith told CNBC.

It’s a far cry from Ford’s wish to exact “pain” on the country that has now harmed his province’s manufacturing sector and industries around the country, including the oil sector that ships most of its product stateside.

But should anyone have seriously expected a major pivot from Smith’s “don’t poke the bear” stance into something more like Ford’s pugilism, or even Poilievre’s fighting rhetoric? 

Sure, the actor Mike Myers got a rise out of many Canadians when he wore a “Canada is not for sale” T-shirt at the end of Saturday Night Live, and paid tribute to hockey legend Gordie Howe by gesturing with his elbow.

WATCH | Mike Myers makes patriotic statement on Saturday Night Live:

The Canadian actor wore a shirt that read ‘Canada is not for sale’ on one of America’s treasured late-night comedy programs. Here’s what that says about Canadian patriotism.

And other Canadian leaders had their elbows decidedly out on the dreaded Day of the Tariffs, while Smith did not.

It may have made Canadians feel good about their leaders being ready to fight for them. But not everyone will agree that a more stalwart, assertive stance in public did diplomatic favours for Volodymyr Zelenskyy — even if it did burnish his heroism credentials in the eyes of many allies.

The Ukrainian leader has now come back with a more conciliatory approach in hopes of a ceasefire and lasting peace.

Even if it’s not emotionally gratifying on a day when other leaders flashed anger to reflect Canadian frustrations, perhaps there is some virtue in patience. Barely 12 hours into the tariffs U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick suggested there’s room for Trump to compromise on his market-sinking tariffs as soon as Wednesday.

But the president himself warned on social media that he’ll just keep escalating tariffs.

Other premiers yanked their U.S. liquor product from shelves in early February and staff had to restock days later, when the threatened tariffs didn’t materialize.

This time, they’re here, duration and exact economic impact unknown.