Toronto, Canada, Nov 27 (EFE).- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned on Wednesday that the 25 percent tariffs that President-elect Donald Trump wants to impose on his North American partners would lead to job losses in Canada and the US.

Trudeau met on Wednesday night with the premiers of the country’s 11 provinces to outline a common strategy in response to the tariffs that Trump has threatened to impose on Canada and Mexico in retaliation for the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants to the US.

Canada’s strategy so far has been to disassociate itself as much as possible from Mexico and to emphasize that the northern border of the US is secure to prevent Trump from making good on his threat and imposing tariffs that economists warn would plunge the country into a recession.

“The Prime Minister emphasized that the number of migrants attempting to travel from Canada to the United States is a fraction of the numbers of those attempting to travel from Mexico to the United States,” the Canadian prime minister’s office said in a readout of the meeting with the premiers.

Trudeau also “reiterated his ongoing commitment to work with premiers in promoting Canada as a secure and reliable trade partner, including in critical minerals, natural resources, and energy,” the statement added.

During the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland “called on premiers to make use of all of their contacts, channels, and abilities to relay important information and messages to Americans and people of influence.”

After the meeting, Freeland said at a press conference that it had been very positive and that all attendees agreed to work in a coordinated manner.

But the premier of Ontario, one of Canada’s most industrial provinces with a large automotive sector, the conservative Doug Ford, accused Trudeau of being slow to react to the political situation in the US.

“For months, Ontario has been pushing the federal government to show that Canada understands, cares and is responsive to US security and economic concerns, including by urging them to match US tariffs on China, ban Chinese software in cars on Canadian roads,” Ford said in a statement.

“It’s also why I called out Mexico for allowing itself to become a backdoor for cheap Chinese transshipment and am urging Canada to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement directly with the US,” he added. EFE

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