U.S. tariffs can be avoided if border progress shown: defence minister

After getting a 30-day tariff reprieve from the U.S. government, Defence Minister Bill Blair said helium believes Canada tin debar further tariff threats if Ottawa tin amusement the caller borderline program is stopping the travel of drugs and migrants into the U.S.

“They asked that we bash a amended occupation of policing our broadside of the border, and we’ve agreed to put importantly connected that,” Blair told Global News from Washington, D.C.

“If we are capable to show that those investments are producing existent results for some of our countries … past we whitethorn beryllium capable to debar a instrumentality to treatment with respect to tariffs.”

After agreeing to clasp disconnected connected imposing tariffs connected Canada connected Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump posted online that helium was “very pleased with this archetypal outcome.” He said the 30-day intermission would let for negotiations “to spot whether oregon not a last Economic woody with Canada tin beryllium structured.”

The White House and Republican lawmakers person praised Trump’s tariff menace for securing caller borderline information commitments from Canada and Mexico.

On Monday, the Canadian authorities agreed to walk different $200 cardinal to backmost “a caller quality directive connected organized transgression and fentanyl,” appoint a “fentanyl czar,” and database cause cartels arsenic violent organizations, successful summation to $1.3 cardinal successful borderline spending archetypal announced successful December.

As a portion of that woody to intermission the 25 per cent tarrifs, Canada volition nonstop astir 10,000 frontline unit to the border, but Blair says that volition not see immoderate Canadian Armed Forces members.

“We are not deploying the equipped forces to our border. It’s not what’s required,” Blair told Global News.

He added CAF members patrolling the borderline was not thing offered by the Canadian authorities oregon asked for by the Trump medication during negotiations.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum agreed to nonstop 10,000 Mexican Armed Forces members to the U.S.-Mexico border, arsenic portion of a bundle to get a 30-day intermission connected tariffs from the Trump administration.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called connected Canada to bash the same.

“Send Canadian Forces troops, helicopters [and] surveillance to the borderline now,” Poilievre said connected Monday, earlier the Canadian tariffs were paused.

Trending Now

Blair labelled sending troops to the borderline arsenic “entirely inappropriate” and said Poilievre’s request was “not a precise well-informed recommendation.”

Despite nary troops heading to the border, the curate did accidental the CAF would enactment constabulary with logistics and surveillance astatine the border.

“We volition enactment the RCMP, and they’re the ones that person the work of doing that connected behalf of Canadians,” Blair said.

The RCMP connected Wednesday unveiled caller enforcement actions taken astatine the Canada-U.S. border, including the interception of six radical crossing illegally into Manitoba past month.

After Trump had primitively signed the enforcement bid promising tariffs connected Canada by Feb. 4, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined a $155 cardinal counter-tariff package. He added that Canada was besides considering non-tariff measures, specified arsenic ending partnerships with U.S. firms.

One of the biggest associated Canada-U.S. projects, the $73.9 cardinal acquisition of 88 F-35 combatant jets, is not a declaration that would beryllium ripped up, according to the minister.

“We’ve gone done a agelong process of selecting the F-35 combatant jet. We stay committed to that,” Blair said.

“My occupation was to marque definite that the American manufacture and the American authorities understands the value of our shared work and narration successful getting that occupation done.”

Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos told reporters connected Monday, earlier the tariffs were paused, that the authorities was lone looking astatine limiting non-defence national contracts to Canadian firms arsenic portion of immoderate retaliation.

—With further files from Global’s Sean Boynton