Ambassador says U.S. recognizes Canada’s ‘progress’ in protecting border, tackling fentanyl [Video]

Canada’s ambassador to the United States hinted the country might avoid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs by continuing to tackle illegal migration and fentanyl trafficking.

In an interview on Wednesday with CBC’s Power & Politics guest host J.P. Tasker, Ambassador Kirsten Hillman said advisers to the president are “pleased” with Canada’s progress.

She added that “everybody that we’re talking to” in Washington suggests Trump’s March 4 deadline to impose 25 per cent tariffs on almost all imports from Canada is tied to the country’s efforts to fight the scourge of fentanyl and protect the border.

Canada has taken a series of measures in response to the president’s concerns, including forging ahead with a $1.3-billion plan to secure the Canada-U.S. border and appointing former senior Mountie Kevin Brosseau as fentanyl czar.

Trump is also threatening to levy additional 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports— including from Canada, its largest importer of the metals — as …