Crude oil tariffs in response to Trump’s threats would cause pain on both sides
In Canada’s arsenal of possible responses to a Trump tariff, the nuclear option is the threat to withhold, reduce or place export tariffs on Canadian energy.
Already, the mere suggestion of such a tactic has caused a split between the government of Alberta, on one side, and the governments of Canada and all other provinces on the other.
Tariffs on imports from the U.S. have the potential to cause pain to certain industries and regions, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau himself has acknowledged that the effect of Canada’s import tariffs would be diluted by the size of the U.S. population and economy.
The withholding or tariffing of Canadian resource exports, on the other hand, has the potential to cause real, generalized discomfort to the U.S. — albeit at great cost to Canada as well.
Isn’t most of Alberta’s oil exported as unrefined bitumen and then refined in the US? If that’s the case, we’d need to find a trading partner that can handle our product.
Apparently they’ve been looking for new buyers
afaik yes, and that’s exactly the problem I’m referring to.
*gestures to the past 20+ years of me and many like me saying we need to refine this shit locally* — sigh.
You need to refine it yourself. Exporting raw materials are good for short term profits but you are more exposed to price fluctuations . Look at kora for instance. They seems to have a more stable economy now than when they mostly expected raw materials
Heavy oil is stable and safe for transport. Light oil and refined products are volatile and explosive. To avoid disaster oil is refined close to market.