Donald Trump’s trade war is on hold – for now. It’s not a fight we wanted or sought out, but given Trump’s desire to bludgeon us into becoming the 51st state we need to be prepared.
There is a way that we can come out of this stronger.
In moments of disruption, great things can happen. We need to demand a response that takes care of people and sets a clear vision for a greener, more resilient future. If we get it right, we can help Canadians struggling with the cost of living, while protecting the planet.
Protect people, not polluters: Join the movement to defend people and nature.
Unfortunately, some Canadian politicians and pundits are trying to use the crisis of Trump’s making to advance Trump-like policies, including via cynical ploys to entrench fossil fuel dependence.
Some are even encouraging capitulation. The Postmedia chain of newspapers (which is owned by an American hedge fund with links to Trump) published a front-page column from Jordan Peterson about how this is really all our own fault for being socialists with public health care, as well a column from David Staples on how he is only willing to stay in Canada if Alberta gets to double oil production. Meanwhile, Canada’s far-right ‘news’ outlet is selling “I Stand with Trump” mugs.

Image: Screenshots from news outlets urging capitulation to Trump
Greenpeace Canada, along with over 20 other environmental and social justice organizations, has put out an alternative proposal to not just fight back, but to fight for a better future.
It begins by noting that Trump’s first weeks in office have been marked by appalling decisions across numerous fronts—from exiting the Paris Agreement, to mass Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests, to attacking trans rights—as well as by the looming spectre of punitive tariffs.
Protecting Canadians during a second Trump administration and its wake will require bold measures from our federal and provincial leaders.
Oil interests and their political mouthpieces have been quick to capitalize on this crisis with calls to fast-track BC’s Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) exports to Asia and even resurrect long-dead pipelines like Energy East or Northern Gateway. That path would deepen our reliance on the very things – oil and autocrats – that are destabilizing our democracy and our climate.
Instead, we are calling on our leaders to learn from the history of fighting authoritarianism. The first step is to not obey tyranny in advance or to let U.S.-owned fossil fuel corporations exploit this crisis. Canadian governments must respond in a way that upholds our values, protects workers and those most at risk, and makes our country more resilient for years to come.
How can we do that? There are four big, initial steps we need to take.
- Rebuilding the social safety net to cushion the short-term blow from Trump’s tariffs but also jump-starting the economy by investing in essential public services such as healthcare, transit, education, social housing and climate adaptation initiatives, thereby creating new jobs and fixing crumbling public infrastructure. This social safety net expansion should help build a bridge for workers to sustainable jobs, including guaranteed jobs for young people via the Youth Climate Corps.
- Exert pressure with strategic export taxes on oil and gas and other Canadian exports that cannot easily be replaced and that target U.S. corporate profits, putting pressure on the Trump administration to negotiate their removal.
- Launch a green industrial strategy. Much like Europe did in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, we need to rapidly make ourselves less dependent on oil and gas, and on our economic trade relationship with the US. Federal and provincial governments should act with urgency on a publicly-led green industrial strategy that builds out our national electricity grid and clean manufacturing capacity, centering community ownership and projects which meet the requirements for Indigenous consent (FPIC) and rigorous environmental protection criteria. This should include a massive building program for affordable, green housing that is going to use domestic resources to make life more affordable.
- More, not less, international cooperation. President Trump’s trade war shows that he is going by a doctrine not of “America First,” but “America only.” Now is not the time to abandon international cooperation. Canada should coordinate its retaliatory strategy with Mexico, Colombia, the European Union, and other countries, as well as start the work of making our economy less structurally dependent on a single trading partner.
In short: we need to craft a response to Trump’s aggression that untangles both our economy and national identity from its dependence on the United States and on fossil fuel extractivism.
If you want to be part of the resistance, then join us in building that better future
Protect people, not polluters: Join the movement to defend people and nature.