OTTAWA — The Liberal government is projecting calm in response to the re-election of Donald Trump, arguing Canada has the heft and ties to thrive through significant swings in U.S. economic policy. 

“Canada will be absolutely fine,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland insisted to reporters Wednesday, noting that the two countries have “a strong relationship” and that bilateral trade happens under a deal negotiated during the first Trump administration, the USMCA. 

Team Canada: Ottawa had already launched a charm offensive in the U.S., with ministers touring states that do a lot of business with Canada, to emphasize the need to keep commerce flowing. 

“We’ve forged these relationships with business leaders, political leaders, governors, senators, which allow us to amplify the message,” Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne told The Logic in an interview.

He had just spoken to an aerospace conference at Ottawa’s convention centre, where he did his best to soothe industry attendees.

Canada is an indispensable security partner to the United States, he told them, including as a supplier of vital materials for the defence sector. Canadian and American supply chains are more tightly integrated than ever. Even in the face of global transportation blockages like those caused by from COVID-19, trucks can link the two countries’ industries. Finally, in an unstable world, Canada is a “stable, predictable partner based on the rule of law.”

“It’s the economy, it’s jobs, it’s security, and therefore that kind of message resonates well with the Republicans,” Champagne told The Logic.

If they need help, though, the Liberal government has a “well thought-out, rolling plan” to communicate it, he said. Congratulatory posts on X are the start, but there’s a lot of work yet to do, he said.

Tariff talk: The U.S. is by far Canada’s largest export market, and Trump has promised to put a 10 per cent tariff on all imports into the country. On Wednesday, Freeland said Ottawa has a plan to respond to any such measures, but did not say what specific measures it might take. Canada’s position as the largest U.S. market “gives us leverage,” she said, while insisting that the two countries can and do cooperate on economic issues. “Canadian workers do not undercut U.S. workers.”

Freeland also said she’d spoken to Robert Lighthizer, the Trump-era U.S. Trade Representative, on Tuesday. Lighthizer is expected to play a key role in the new administration, and has argued in favour of Trump’s new tariffs. 

Freeland framed the two men’s tariff proposals as a response to the Chinese government’s “intentional policy of overcapacity” in key industries to unfairly compete with U.S. manufacturers. “We share those concerns,” she said, citing Ottawa’s recent move to hike levies on Chinese-made electric vehicles, steel and aluminum. 

But Lighthizer has said the U.S. needs tariffs to address all its trade deficits, and Canada currently sells significantly more goods and services to the U.S. than it buys. The USMCA is also up for review in 2026, and Trump has said he wants to renegotiate it.

What comes next: While Trump and former officials from his first administration have made a range of significant economic proposals, it remains to be seen how those will be implemented when he takes power. “We now know what we’re dealing with, and we have another couple months for a campaign to be translated into actual governing policy,” Carolyn Rogers, the Bank of Canada senior deputy governor, said at an event in Toronto. “That’s where it gets tricky.”

Champagne echoed that cautious note: “This is Day 1 after the election,” he said. “Let’s see what is put forward by the next U.S. administration.”

With files from Aimée Look in Toronto