Smith pulls out of governors’ meeting in D.C. after White House visit

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OTTAWA — Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is cancelling a trip to Washington, D.C., planned for this week, but says she’s not giving up on her strategy of face-to-face engagement with U.S. lawmakers to head off the threat of tariffs.

Smith says she’s skipping the 2025 Winter Meeting of the National Governors Association, set to get underway on Thursday, to put the finishing touches on Alberta’s upcoming budget.

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“We’ve decided to remain in Alberta this week to prepare for the budget that will be released next week,” Smith said in a statement to the National Post.

“We need to make sure Albertans have the resources they need to deal with the uncertainty we face from the tariff threat and the potential inflation that could cause.”

Smith’s cancellation comes one week after she joined her fellow premiers for a diplomatic mission to Washington that garnered middling reviews.

The 13 premiers managed to score a White House meeting with two mid-level Trump officials, thanks to an assist from a well-connected lobbying firm, but the visit ended on a sour note when one of the meeting’s hosts poked fun at the delegation on social media.

“To be clear, we never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state,” Trump aide James Blair said in response to a recap of the meeting attributed to British Columbia Premier David Eby. 

The premiers’ charm offensive also didn’t stop President Donald Trump from singling out Canada repeatedly last week when announcing his plan for reciprocal tariffs on America’s trade partners.

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“Canada has been very bad to us on trade, but now Canada is going to have to start paying up,” Trump told reporters.

Trump repeated his canned line about Canada becoming the “51st state” at the Oval Office announcement, once again calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “Governor Trudeau.”

Yet despite last week’s mishaps, Smith is continuing to push for cross-border dialogue.

“Our diplomacy in the U.S. has been working and we’ll continue to do that work,” said Smith on Tuesday.

“We’ll continue to meet with U.S. officials and I’ll continue doing U.S. media to share our message with Americans that our economies are both stronger when we work together.”

Smith added that she will be in Houston, Texas, next month for energy conference CERAWeek.

Smith’s office told the National Post she’s already built strong relationships with governors and other key state-level officials during previous engagements.

Smith travelled to Las Vegas in December to attend the Western Governors Association Winter Meeting and signed an energy pact with 14 U.S. governors one month earlier.

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Her cancellation means that just two premiers, Ontario’s Doug Ford and Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston, will be in Washington, D.C., for the governors’ meeting.

Houston spokesperson Catherine Klimek said that the meeting presents a good opportunity to turn already wavering Americans against Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canada.

“Many Americans are realizing the negative impacts these tariffs would have on their economy and Americans — we can’t take the foot off the gas,” said Klimek in an email to the National Post.

Jamie Tronnes, executive director of the Center for North America Prosperity and Security in Washington, said several governors will be disappointed by the low Canadian turnout.

“Governors are worried about how retaliatory tariffs on things like, for example, Kentucky bourbon, will affect their states and want to be seen as doing something about the issue,” said Tronnes.

Tronnes added that some U.S. holiday destinations are already seeing a drop-off in tourism dollars from Canadian travellers.

“Just a 10 per cent drop in Canadian tourism would be a $2.1 billion (USD) loss to the American economy,” said Tronnes.

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“Right now, what we’re looking at is a 25 per cent drop, depending on how things go and how long it will be sustained for.”

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