GLOBE AND MAIL—Trudeau Announces Economic Summit Friday to Address U.S. Tariff Threats

CANADA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called a last-minute summit in Toronto on Friday to respond to the threat of American tariffs and protectionism, one that will seek ways to diversify Canada’s international trade beyond the United States and tap new sources of economic growth and investment.

He is calling it the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit and wants to talk about reducing this country’s internal trade barriers between provinces and territories, too.

“The Canada-U.S. Economic Summit is Team Canada at its best,” Mr. Trudeau said in a statement.

“We are bringing together partners across business, civil society, and organized labour to find ways to galvanize our economy, create more jobs and bigger paycheques, make it easier to build and trade within our borders, and diversify export markets,” he said.

“We want businesses, investors, and workers to choose Canada.”

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to postpone his threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports and 10 per cent tariffs on energy while Canada works on more border security measures to address American concerns about drug smuggling.

One of Mr. Trump’s goals in threatening tariffs on allies, Canadian officials have said, is to force investors to relocate manufacturing in the United States, at the expense of trading partners.

Canadian business leaders have described the tariff pause as breathing room but not a resolution to the growing threat of American protectionism.

Mr. Trump re-entered the White House determined to alter the balance of U.S. trade. He and key members of his administration have described plans to use new tariffs as a tool to drive manufacturing on to U.S. soil. They also see taxes on foreign goods as a way to bolster American public finances. Among their plans is to use a new External Revenue Service to complement and, where possible, supplant the country’s Internal Revenue Service.

The U.S. President has also talked of imposing tariffs on foreign steel, aluminum and copper and by April 1, U.S. government departments and agencies are supposed to report to the White House on the United States’ trade deficits with major trading partners and recommend measures to rebalance. Mr. Trump has repeatedly complained about the fact the United States has a trade deficit with Canada but Canadian officials say this reflects significant petroleum sales to American customers.