Danielle Smith will promote Canadian oil and gas as a critical energy supply for the U.S. in a series of planned Washington trips, including attending the Canadian embassy’s inauguration party for Donald Trump next month. (The Globe and Mail)

Talking point: Alberta will send top officials to the U.S. in the new year to emphasize its trade relationship, Smith said, part of a wider effort to counteract Trump’s tariff threat. “None of us can afford to have 25 per cent tariffs on our products,” Smith said in a year-end interview with The Globe and Mail. “It will be the overriding issue of next year, if it doesn’t get resolved.” Smith has previously disagreed with placing a pre-emptive import tax on Canadian oil and gas after Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he’d consider cutting electricity exports to the U.S.