Manitoba has to ‘ride the wave’ of economic uncertainty, Kinew says after two-day visit to Washington

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This article was published 13/02/2025 (257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Premier Wab Kinew thinks Manitoba’s relationship with the U.S. is in a better place after Canada’s 13 premiers visited Washington, D.C., to make a case against President Donald Trump’s threat of crushing tariffs.

While it remains to be seen if the Trump administration will be swayed to any degree, Kinew said the two-day visit was productive and a success, but cautioned that Manitoba will have to “ride the wave” as economic uncertainty hangs over both countries.

“What I’m saying is that over the coming weeks and months, we’re going to have to ride the wave in the sense of, yeah, there’s going to be curveballs thrown at us,” Kinew told reporters in a virtual call from the U.S. capital Thursday afternoon.

“Potentially, maybe, we’re going to be asked to work together with the United States on certain things like border security, and we’re just going to have to be able to be calm and to respond with that in a way that’s consistent with our values as Manitobans, protects our jobs here at home, but also shows that we’re serious about building this relationship and this friendship with America.”

Kinew, who acknowledged the relationship will require ongoing “nurturing,” said the premiers “made the case strongly that we shouldn’t have tariffs when it comes to the relationship with Canada.”

He attended meetings Thursday with U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, North Dakota’s former governor, and Congress members from border states.

While he would not go into detail about what was discussed, topics included tariffs, the border, energy, agriculture and critical minerals.

“(Burgum) knows what our province is all about, and that familiarity and the ability to connect on his priorities, to share our priorities, I think, means that we have that ‘in’ to the administration,” Kinew said. “And, of course, it’s going to have to be a situation where their interests align with our interests.”

Kinew was part of a group that bumped into billionaire Elon Musk, who Trump appointed to an unofficial and controversial department to cut spending, at the White House Wednesday.

“You’re kind of tripping over each other on the White House grounds,” Kinew said. “We just stopped in to say hello.”

The premier, who has described the visit as a “charm offensive,” said work continues to set up a Manitoba trade office in Canada’s embassy in Washington. Manitoba is in the process of hiring an official to lead the office.

“We also need somebody here on the ground day in, day out to keep that visibility, keep that warm and hearty handshake extended, so that we can ensure that our interests are always going to be part of the conversation here in America, too,” Kinew said.

“Potentially, maybe, we’re going to be asked to work together with the United States on certain things like border security, and we’re just going to have to be able to be calm and to respond with that in a way that’s consistent with our values as Manitobans.”–Premier Wab Kinew

The premiers met with White House advisers James Blair and Sergio Gor on Wednesday night. Kinew dismissed remarks by Trump and some of his aides that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.

Other official meetings included union and business leaders.

Kinew said the meetings will help put Canada’s provinces on “solid” and “more positive” footing at the start of Trump’s four-year term, and could be beneficial when the Canada-United States-Mexico free-trade agreement is reviewed.

The trip was the first time Canada’s premiers have visited the U.S. capital on a shared mission. It came as Trump signed an executive order Thursday for reciprocal tariffs on countries that tax U.S. imports.

The U.S. president already announced plans to impose 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on countries including Canada starting March 12.

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While a trade war loomed on Feb. 3, Trump put a 30-day pause on his threat of 25 per cent tariffs on many goods from Canada and Mexico, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to additional measures aimed at border security and drug trafficking.

Trudeau, Canadian premiers and Mexico’s plans for retaliatory tariffs or countermeasures were also put on hold.

Manitoba’s proposed countermeasures included pulling U.S.-made booze from Liquor Marts and exploring ways to prevent U.S. companies from bidding on provincial contracts.

The province last month sent conservation officers to patrol Manitoba’s border with the U.S., as Canadian governments responded to tariff threats and border demands from Trump, who was sworn in Jan. 20.

Kinew said U.S. officials this week had a “good response” to Canada’s efforts to increase border security and curb fentanyl trafficking.

chris.kitching@freepress.mb.ca

Chris Kitching
Reporter

Chris Kitching is a general assignment reporter at the Free Press. He began his newspaper career in 2001, with stops in Winnipeg, Toronto and London, England, along the way. After returning to Winnipeg, he joined the Free Press in 2021, and now covers a little bit of everything for the newspaper. Read more about Chris.

Every piece of reporting Chris produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.