'No bottles being popped' as Manitoba grapples with impacts of tariffs, premier says
Wab Kinew says province facing 'trade war on 2 fronts' with tariffs from U.S., China
A day after Canada was largely spared in U.S. President Donald Trump's long-feared plan to impose broad tariffs on imports from dozens of countries, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said there are still "no bottles being popped today," as the province comes to terms with how it will be affected by industry-specific tariffs that are being imposed.
That includes steel manufacturers like the Gerdau steel mill in Selkirk, which will continue to be affected by existing tariffs on steel and aluminum, and manufacturers who make products not covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, like oil.
That's in addition to separate tariffs from China on pork and canola exports, which the premier said have together put Manitoba in the position of "facing a trade war on two fronts" — something he said he raised with Prime Minister Mark Carney during a Thursday conversation with him and the other premiers.
"It's going to take months for us to navigate what the actual impacts are on our producers, our manufacturers, the people who go to work in these jobs every day in our economy," Kinew told reporters at a news conference in his office Thursday afternoon.
"That's why I'm saying that we're not breaking out the champagne, or we're not doing any fist pumps today, because there are still very real threats to our Manitoba economy and very real impacts that we're facing."
Kinew said those factors, along with the impact on the broader Canadian economy from Trump's recently introduced auto tariffs and the ongoing overall changes to global trade, are all going to "hit us here in Manitoba in various ways."
"We're just going to have to see how it plays out," he said, adding American booze will continue to stay off provincially operated Liquor Mart shelves in Manitoba.
WATCH | Manitoba faces double threat of China, U.S. tariffs, Kinew says:
Now that the tariffs are no longer just threats, there's a "renewed" focus and "a ton of unity" among the Team Canada coalition of federal and provincial representatives, Kinew said.
He said he also spoke with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre about the latest tariff update, in the interest of fairness to Manitoba's Conservative voters, with a federal election campaign underway.
Kinew also stressed the importance of continuing to send a message to people in the U.S. about the harmful effects of Trump's tariffs.
He said it is encouraging to see more Americans speaking out against them, including Republicans like Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who was among a small group from Trump's party who joined Democrats in rebuking the U.S. president on Canadian tariffs in a vote this week.
Kinew, who said he supports the federal government's tariff response, was among the latest Canadian premiers to make public remarks about the tariff update.
Earlier Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford called it "positive" that Canada was not on the list of countries that will face the new "reciprocal" tariffs announced on Wednesday by Trump, saying he thinks the relationship between Canada and the U.S. has made a difference.
Quebec Premier François Legault said even though Canada was largely spared in Trump's tariffs announcement, he remained concerned, particularly given the auto tariffs in place. Legault said Quebec and Canadian values align more with Europe than with the U.S.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said he's glad to see a shift in how Trump is talking about Canada and hopes it means "some stability and ultimately grounds to sit down like adults and come to an agreement about how our two countries can come together."
However, he cautioned the president could make a post on Truth Social and throw everything into question at any time.