‘Great Deal’: Trudeau’s Conservative Rival Makes Energy Pitch to Trump

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(Bloomberg) — Since winning the U.S. election, Donald Trump has mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by calling him the 51st governor of the U.S. state, threatened 25% tariffs and talked about how the United States was being cheated by its northern neighbor over its trade deficit.

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Pierre Poilievre — the Conservative leader and front-runner to beat Trudeau’s party in the next election — says he can increase Canada’s exports to the United States and strike a “great deal” with Trump anyway.

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Poilievre sketched the US president-elect’s pitch during an interview with right-wing Canadian influencer Jordan Peterson, posted online on Thursday. Poilievre said that if elected, he plans to speed up approvals for the construction of oil refineries, liquefied natural gas terminals, nuclear and hydropower facilities. He added that Canada has the potential to grow its surplus electricity with the United States, which helps power data centers essential to the booming artificial intelligence sector.

“If you look at President Trump’s history, he negotiates very aggressively and likes to win, but in the end, he doesn’t seem to have a problem if his counterpart wins, too,” Poilievre said. “So I believe we can reach a great agreement that will make both countries safer, richer and stronger.”

But Trump should also realize that Canada currently sells its oil and gas to the United States at “deep discounts,” Poilievre told Peterson.

“Yes, it’s a scam, Canada is tearing itself apart,” the conservative politician said.

The US trade deficit in goods with Canada reached $50.5 billion during the first ten months of the year. It would be larger, but Canadian crude is sold cheaply to U.S. refiners, especially in the Midwest.

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The discount exists because Canada has few alternatives. There is only one oil export pipeline running to an ocean port in British Columbia, and the country is only now developing an liquefied natural gas industry with the capacity to ship large volumes of gas to Asia. So most of the fuel goes south.

“That’s the real story — the pathetic story — of our trade surplus, which is that we’re actually handing over our resources, stupidly,” Poilievre said. “This is not the fault of the Americans, it is our fault, we are stupid. We will stop being stupid when I become prime minister.”

Poilievre claimed that Trump has reason to be upset about US deficits with China and Mexico — “from a trade standpoint” — because they are draining American jobs. But the Conservative leader said the trade gap with Canada is different, because it is driven by the sale of goods that Canada has and the United States needs, and actually supports American jobs where they are processed.

He continued imploring Trump: “The last thing he should do is prevent underpriced Canadian energy from entering his market.” “In fact, what I would encourage him to do is approve the Keystone Pipeline,” he added, referring to the long-term Keystone XL project designed to move about 800,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands to southeastern Nebraska, where it will be transported. Connect with existing pipelines.

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President Joe Biden revoked a key permit for that project after taking office in 2021, effectively eliminating it. Trump supports Keystone XL, but there is no indication yet that South Bow Corp, which owns Keystone, wants to revive it.

Lost jobs

If Trump somehow stops Canada’s trade surplus with the United States immediately, Poilievre said, American workers in refineries would lose their jobs and consumers would pay higher prices. He said Canada should instead step up extraction of resources such as critical minerals so that both countries can grow richer while weaning themselves off supplies from unfriendly countries like China.

Poilievre added that he held talks with the conservative leaders of the hydrocarbon-rich provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, and asked them to prepare to accelerate approvals for resource projects.

Poilievre said he would address US concerns about cross-border trade and military spending, adding that the Conservative government would invest planned gains from his energy export strategy in Arctic security. Trump has long complained that allies are taking advantage of the United States, and Canada is currently a long way from meeting NATO’s goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence.

“I can fund a more robust military and continental defense if I have more free trade with the greatest economy the world has ever seen — and we can win,” he said.

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