{"id":887298,"date":"2026-09-07T23:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T23:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/887298\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T23:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T23:42:10","slug":"quebec-premier-warns-of-further-u-s-retaliation-as-canadian-countertariffs-loom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/887298\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec Premier warns of further U.S. retaliation as Canadian countertariffs loom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec Leader Christine Frechette makes a daycare announcement during an election campaign stop in Lorraine, Que., on Saturday.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The Canada-U.S. trade war is looming large over Quebec\u2019s election campaign, as party leaders clash over how to protect the province from the economic fallout.<\/p>\n

Premier Christine Fr\u00e9chette warned Monday that Canadian counter-tariffs set to take effect at midnight could provoke another response from the Trump administration, while Liberal Leader Charles Milliard argued the trade dispute should be used as a springboard to reshape Quebec\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre the Americans going to respond to these counter-tariffs? I have to say I wouldn\u2019t be surprised,\u201d Fr\u00e9chette told reporters in Mirabel. \u201cThat could trigger another cycle, so we\u2019ll have to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coalition avenir Qu\u00e9bec leader intended to temporarily step away from the campaign Monday evening to chair a virtual cabinet meeting<\/a> at 6 p.m. to make a series of decisions related to the new federal tariff measures.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette said she remains premier during the campaign and has a responsibility to act when important issues arise. \u201cI won\u2019t apologize for governing when it\u2019s to protect our businesses, our economy and our workers,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Opinion: As Fr\u00e9chette cozies up to Carney, the Quebec election is becoming a toss-up<\/a><\/p>\n

The Quebec government had raised concerns that some of Ottawa\u2019s retaliatory measures could hurt Quebec businesses.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Fr\u00e9chette said Ottawa took Quebec\u2019s requests into consideration and adjusted its response, adding that there was \u201calways room for improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quebec previously said it obtained federal tariff relief for affected businesses, and also got new counter-tariffs on some U.S. products that Quebec companies can supply to the rest of Canada, including copper wire and dairy products.<\/p>\n

John Fragos, press secretary for federal Finance Minister Fran\u00e7ois-Philippe Champagne, said Quebec was among those consulted on changes to Canada\u2019s counter-tariff product list announced two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe changes \u2026 were determined in part based on discussions with and recommendations by the Quebec government and key economic and sectoral players in Quebec,\u201d Fragos said.<\/p>\n

He said Ottawa also extended its existing tariff-remission program to cover newly tariffed products. \u201cThese changes maintain Canada\u2019s dollar-for-dollar counter measures, promote domestic production, and level the playing field,\u201d Fragos said.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9chette invited opposition party leaders to meet with her after the cabinet meeting to brief them on the provincial government\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

Milliard agreed to attend, but made clear Monday that he was doing so reluctantly. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, I don\u2019t want to go at all, but I\u2019m going to go in the public interest,\u201d he told reporters in Laval.<\/p>\n

Milliard described Monday\u2019s cabinet meeting as a \u201cplay\u201d and accused Fr\u00e9chette of failing to prepare Quebec businesses for the trade war.<\/p>\n

The Liberal leader also released a video calling the U.S. tariffs an \u201ceconomic aggression\u201d and arguing Quebec should respond by diversifying its markets, cutting red tape and reducing government regulation.<\/p>\n

\u201cA crisis like the one we\u2019re experiencing isn\u2019t just an ordeal to overcome; it has to be a starting point toward a better future,\u201d Milliard said.<\/p>\n

Quebec Conservative Leader \u00c9ric Duhaime declined Fr\u00e9chette\u2019s invitation, accusing her of using the trade dispute as a campaign diversion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Parti Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon agreed to attend, though he called on Fr\u00e9chette to provide opposition parties with details and documents ahead of the meeting. Qu\u00e9bec solidaire co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal also agreed to attend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Coalition Avenir Qu\u00e9bec Leader Christine Frechette makes a daycare announcement during an election…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":887299,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-887298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887298\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/887299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}