Trade, Environment Are Big Worries for Canada After Trump Wins

Ottawa: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday said he looked forward to working with Donald Trump after the New York businessman won the U.S. presidency in a victory that could hurt Canada's exporters and wreck plans to impose a national carbon price.

The left-leaning Trudeau, who supports free trade and higher immigration, is ideologically removed from the Republican U.S. president-elect.

"We share a purpose, our two countries. ... I'm going to work with (his) administration as we move forward in a positive way," Trudeau told a youth forum.

Trump vowed on the campaign trail to revise or tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) under which Canada sends 75 percent of its exports to the United States.

The challenge for Ottawa is that it had assumed Democrat Hillary Clinton would win Tuesday's election and played down the need for a game plan for a Trump victory. Officials must now work out how Canada's export-reliant economy can maintain its privileged U.S. access.

In early September, the Canadian ambassador to Washington said he had already had many meetings with Clinton aides compared to a single session with a top Trump ally.

A source with knowledge of the matter said Trudeau would raise the importance of bilateral trade in his first call to Trump.

Separately, Roland Paris, who served as Trudeau's foreign policy advisor until late June, said the prime minister should make the case for close economic ties.

"He needs to be thinking about mobilizing allies at all levels of the U.S. political system," he said.

A November study by Export Development Canada said exports to the United States could drop between 1.2 percent to 4.5 percent, depending on how radical an approach Trump took.

The Trump win also could imperil Trudeau's plan to impose a carbon price as part of a commitment to meet international climate change goals. Trump has said global warming is a hoax and if he dilutes America's commitment to combating greenhouse gases, it could make Canadian businesses less competitive.

Brad Wall, the premier of Saskatchewan and an opponent of the carbon price, said the idea made no sense "when our biggest trading partner – and our biggest competitor for investment and jobs – is not going to have one".

Unlike some leaders who slammed Trump ahead of the election, Trudeau avoided comment. Canadian officials abroad were instructed not to discuss their preferences, even unofficially, said a second source with knowledge of the matter.

"Personal relations with Trump are clearly going to matter a lot. ... Trudeau was wise to keep his mouth shut," said Fen Hampson, director of global security research at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.