Lorne Gunter: Tariff-loving Trump torpedoes his own Keystone demands

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U.S. President Donald Trump seems to have learned that if the Keystone XL pipeline is to be restored, it will carry Canadian oil.

But he couldn’t seem to put two and two on the pipeline and on the tariffs.

On the same day, Trump posted on social media that he hopes Keystone Construction will start over “Now!” He also confirmed that he will advance tariffs on all U.S. Canadian imports, including oil that will be carried in future Keystone XL.

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Trump posted on his Truth on Social Media and his friend Elon Musk’s X on Monday, hoping that “the company builds Keystone XL Pipeline…(TO) back in the United States and builds it-now ! I know they treated them very badly for the sleepy Joe Biden, but the Trump administration is very different – easy to approve, almost immediately! If it weren’t for them, maybe another Pipeline Company. We want to build Keystone XL pipeline!”

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Trump seems to understand the company he refers to. TC Energy Corp is Canadian. After all, he hopes they “return to the United States” immediately and get the job done.

But he never seemed to have imagined that the kind of oil he envisioned flowing through Keystone (more than 800,000 barrels per day from Alberta) would be subject to tariffs he intended to impose this weekend.

Of course, his tariffs on oil (10%) are significantly lower than what he intends to impose on all other products (25%). But what made him think that Canada would be eager to ship additional oil out if it was subject to a 10% fine?

Trump hopes we will increase goods to the United States by about 20%. (Keystone does not call it XL pipeline.)

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Often, we are happy to ship all this extra oil to the trading partner. But Trump no longer believes or regards Canada as a partner. We are enemies or competitors until our work and prosperity are transferred to the United States.

Why do we need to work with him?

Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see the cornerstone built, plus the East and West coasts pipelines.

But why is a company raising up to $15 billion in funding to build a country with a leader, and its idea of ​​trade changes in Breeze?

After former President Joe Biden canceled all federal licenses for Keystone in 2021, TC Energy revoked some of the pipelines that had been placed, giving up almost all of its labor.

Even if the equipment and labor can be reassembled quickly, many construction permits have since been available.

For Trump, things have changed since the U.S. election, and that’s all good and guarantees a quick reissue of cross-border and other federal licenses.

But Trump’s confidence ignores the required national and even county permits. TC spent years of complicated applications and regulatory hearings, followed by a court case filed by our indigenous tribes and environmentalists to get all permits in line, and then Biden waved all permits,

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It took nearly 12 years of TC Energy, and over $1 billion was just to get all ducks to start building continuously.

Who wants to go through it again before the first shovel is on the ground, and Trump decides if he can get what he can get by hanging his approval of the Canadian’s head?

If he wants Canada to be a reliable trading partner, it is respect for the United States’ trading partner, and he must show that respect is a two-way street.

How did he boast with the World Economic Forum last month that the United States does not need “oil and gas” and continue to insult us Canada should be the 51st state?

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