NWT Premier RJ Simpson on Saturday night listed actions the territory will take as the United States imposed tariffs on Canada, sparking a trade war as the Canadian government took retaliatory measures.
Simpson said the NWT government will “review our procurement policies to eliminate purchases from US companies where possible” and halt all purchasing of US liquor and cannabis for sale within the territory.
“These are significant measures and we do not take them lightly,” he wrote in a statement.
“We will continue to identify meaningful ways to stand in solidarity with our fellow Canadians.”
Despite the NWT’s lack of a land border with the US, Simpson said “we are not immune to the repercussions of these tariffs” and pledged to work with fellow premiers to fight what he termed “the aggressive and disappointing decision by the United States government to impose tariffs on all Canadian goods.”
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“The Government of the Northwest Territories remains fully committed to working alongside our federal, provincial, and territorial partners – as well as Indigenous and community governments in the NWT – as part of a coordinated Team Canada approach to respond to these measures,” he stated.
Simpson and other premiers will travel to Washington, DC for meetings with US officials later this month.
More: What we know about tariffs’ possible impact on the NWT
“Our economy, businesses, and communities will feel the ripple effects, and our government is committed to closely monitoring these impacts and addressing them wherever possible,” Simpson continued.
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The premier sought to use the looming trade war as an opportunity to lobby for some of the NWT’s longer-term interests.
For example, he raised the prospect of “advancing strategic infrastructure projects like the Mackenzie Valley Highway and the Slave Geological Province Corridor” as a means of strengthening Canadian supply chains.
Both projects have been on the NWT’s to-do list for decades if only it could get the billion dollars or more in federal funding that each would require. Most recently, the territory had been using Canada’s increasing defence interests in the Arctic to try to persuade Ottawa to pay for them.
Simpson also called for more effort toward “refining Canadian minerals and resources within our own borders,” which might eventually result in a boost for some NWT mining projects.
“Indigenous northerners have lived on this land long before Canada or the United States existed, and our territory continues to evolve in a way that respects that history and embraces diversity,” Simpson concluded.
“We will not accept a future imposed from outside – we will call it out and stand against it, just as those before us always have.”
