Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre congratulated Donald Trump on his election victory in a post on social media, while highlighting the need for tax cuts to protect Canadian jobs amid the potential rise in competition from the United States.
“Yesterday’s [election] result confirms we must cancel [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s] plan to quadruple the carbon tax and hike other taxes, which would push hundreds of thousands more jobs south where President Trump will be cutting taxes even further,” he
wrote on social media platform X on Nov. 6.
On the campaign trail, Trump had promised a sharp escalation of tariffs in his first term, proposing a tax of between 10 percent and 20 percent on all imported products. He also proposed tariffs of between 60 percent and 100 percent on Chinese goods.
During Trump’s last term in office, he introduced tariffs on Canadian
steel and aluminum in 2018 as part of his broader “America First” trade policy, prompting retaliatory measures from Ottawa. The tariffs were
lifted in May 2019 following negotiations between the two countries. During a speech last month, Trump said he would “formally notify” Mexico and Canada of his intent to invoke the six-year renegotiation provisions of the free trade agreement between Canada, the United States, and Mexico (CUSMA).
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who did not publicly congratulate Trump,
told reporters on Nov. 6 that a Trump presidency “is going to have serious impacts on Canadians.”
“We have to protect Canadians jobs, we have to prepare for the impacts of potential tariffs, and what that would mean for our economy, for manufacturing, for jobs in Canada,” he
said. “We need to be very united to say, ‘Whatever our differences are, when it comes to Canadian interests and Canadian jobs, we are all going to work together to defend Canada.’”
Trump was declared the projected winner of the U.S. presidential election early on Nov. 6, having secured enough electoral votes, including key battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia. As of publication time, Trump has garnered
292 electoral votes and is leading in the remaining states of Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada.
Trudeau issued an
official statement on Nov. 6, congratulating Trump on his victory and highlighting their past collaborations during his first term, including bilateral trade and the CUSMA negotiation, which replaced the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA) and came into force in 2020.
“Canada and the U.S. have the world’s most successful partnership. We are neighbours and friends, united by a shared history, common values, and steadfast ties between our peoples. We are also each other’s largest trade partners and our economies are deeply intertwined,” Trudeau said in the statement.
“We look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his administration, including on issues such as trade, investment, and continental peace and security.”
