Alberta Premier Danielle Smith rejects using oil as retaliation in U.S. trade war

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is advocating for increased diplomacy to resolve the escalating trade war between Canada and the United States. Following the breakdown of recent trade talks, Smith stated that Canada should avoid escalation through “brute force” and instead focus on being “too friendly, kind and helpful to resist.”

Smith specifically rejected calls to use Alberta’s oil as a retaliatory tool against the Trump administration’s tariffs. She warned that imposing export taxes or suspending crude oil shipments to the U.S. would be a “disastrous policy decision.” Such a move, she argued, could lead to the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in Alberta and economically damage provinces like Ontario and Quebec. She further noted that the U.S. could respond by cutting off gasoline and diesel supplies to Eastern Canada or by replacing Canadian crude with oil from other sources like Venezuela.

In addition to diplomatic efforts, Smith called for domestic measures to protect Canadian businesses, including tax reforms such as cutting capital gains taxes for reinvestment and reducing internal trade barriers. She also urged the federal government to accelerate the approval timeline for a West Coast pipeline.