Alberta Premier Danielle Smith visits Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate
Posted Jan 12, 2025 12:44 pm.
Last Updated Jan 12, 2025 3:06 pm.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith visited U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida over the weekend to appeal to him and other American lawmakers amid his tariff threats.
In a post on social media, Smith says the two had a “friendly and constructive” conversation on the importance of the U.S.-Canada energy relationship, and how hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by Albertan exports.
“I was also able to have similar discussions with several key allies of the incoming administration and was encouraged to hear their support for a strong energy and security relationship with Canada,” her post reads.
In one photo she shared online, Smith is seen standing next to Trump and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary.
O’Leary is promising to bring a $70 billion AI data centre to northwestern Alberta — about 42 kilometres south of Grande Prairie in the MD of Greenview. He has also been open to Canada becoming the 51st state, claiming on Fox Business in December that over half of Canadians are interested in the merger.
Another photo shared online by Paul L. Palandjian, the CEO of O’Leary Ventures, shows her with O’Leary and psychologist Jordan Peterson. The latter announced he is leaving Canada for the U.S., with reasons including his ongoing feud with the College of Psychologists of Ontario and a bill targeting hate speech.
“On behalf of Albertans, I will continue to engage in constructive dialogue and diplomacy with the incoming administration and elected federal and state officials from both parties, and will do all I can to further Alberta’s and Canada’s interests,” Smith wrote.
“We need to preserve our independence while we grow this critical partnership for the benefit of Canadians and Americans for generations to come.”
Smith’s office had previously stated she would be away on a family vacation from Jan. 7 to Jan. 17.
Trump keeps up threats of 25 per cent tariffs, 51st state comments
Her meeting comes after Trump escalated his rhetoric of Canada becoming the 51st state this week by suggesting that he would use “economic force” to make it happen, despite new moves to bolster border security.
“We don’t have tariffs on them yet but that will happen,” Trump said about Canada Thursday.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico, citing border security concerns, adding they would be applied immediately after his inauguration on Jan. 20. He’s also characterized the U.S.’s trade deficit with Canada as a subsidy.
“We don’t need anything they have,” he said.
“We have more than they have.”
Smith said she will attend Trump’s inauguration and reiterated her intention after his “economic force” comments. She has also appeared on Fox News regularly, appearing seven times since early December. She also did an interview with CNBC on New Year’s Eve.
She has been politely trashing tariffs as bad for jobs and affordability on both sides of the border while selling Alberta as a friendly supplier of oil and gas.
“Fox News has an enormous audience, and some of those people in that audience don’t get their news from anywhere else. So if you want to reach people and answer their questions and correct misinformation and so forth, there’s at least the possibility or the opportunity to do that,” said Lori Williams, a political scientist at Mount Royal University.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appeared on MSNBC’s ‘Inside with Jen Psaki’ in a pre-taped interview aired Sunday, and reiterated remarks he made on CNN last week when he was in Washington for the state funeral of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
He said no American wants to pay 25 per cent more for electricity or oil and gas coming from Canada, and that the idea of a 51st state is distracting from the potential increase in the cost of living for Americans and harm a long-time trading relationship.
He also said Canadians need to take Trump’s expansionist rhetoric seriously, though adds there is a certain amount of “flattery” in Trump seeing how great the country is.
Smith is slated to hold a press conference to answer questions from the media about her trip to Mar-a-Lago on Monday at 7 a.m.
With files from John Marchesan, Bianca Millions and The Canadian Press
