From immigration to intelligence: 5 ways Trump’s executive orders could affect Canada

OTTAWA — While U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on Canada is alarming enough, other measures he announced Monday after his inauguration could have their own implications for Canada.

Here are five Trump directives that could affect Canadians:

Pressure to scrap Facebook tax

Canada implemented a digital services tax in June that applies to revenue from online services, such as advertising on social media platforms. Big Tech firms have said this undercuts their business, while companies that promote U.S. trade say it’s an irritant for Washington.

The legislation enabling the digital services tax came after Canada spent years taking part in an effort by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development to implement a global tax on multinational corporations. Some lobbyists have pushed Canada to wait for the OECD to come up with a global standard instead of pushing its own tax.

Trump has signed an order targeting the OECD’s proposed global tax and triggering investigations of any country with tax rules that “disproportionately affect American companies.” University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist, who specializes in e-commerce, said that makes the Canadian digital services tax “an obvious target.”

Refugee resettlement

In addition to measures to fortify the border, Trump is suspending refugee resettlement to the U.S. until an unspecified date.

The move could increase the pressure on Canada to take in more people seeking safety at a time when Ottawa is trying to limit the number of people resettling here due to the shortage of housing.

Refugee advocates say this might jeopardize ongoing efforts to resettle people from Afghanistan in the U.S.

Energy policy

Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from the 2012 Paris Agreement on climate change — a major international treaty meant to guide efforts to avoid catastrophic global warming — as well as the 1992 United Nations framework on climate change.

Trump also signed an order calling for an expansive approach to energy exploration, “including on the Outer Continental Shelf.” Another order calls for liquefied natural gas to be tapped in areas of Alaska where the Biden administration had limited drilling. That could have an impact on the global market just as Canada is planning to ramp up its LNG exports.

Trump’s orders also end certain U.S. programs meant to boost the use of electric vehicles. Those programs heavily influenced Ottawa’s spending on industrial plants meant to secure Canadian jobs in the EV sector.

University of Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick said in a post on X that this means Canada has spent billions of dollars “to build unwanted products for a market that just vanished.”

Trump is considering ending tax credits to lower the cost of EVs in the U.S., and if he does, Canada’s investments in EV battery plants will go down substantially. Canada included production subsidies to plants including Volkswagen and Stellantis, to equal the U.S. tax credits but the contracts say those subsidies are contingent on the U.S. tax credits remaining in place.

Washington also seeks to become the world’s “leading producer and processor of non-fuel minerals, including rare earth minerals,” which could put America in competition with Canada.

Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said Tuesday he’d rather use this as a point of collaboration, adding that Canada already has taken measures to address U.S. concerns about China in critical minerals supply chains.

“We have a lot of good things to put on the table,” he said.

Wavering multilateralism

Trump is temporarily freezing foreign aid. That could put more pressure on countries like Canada to step up in a world grappling with numerous wars and the highest number of displaced people in history.

He is also pulling the U.S. out of the World Health Organization. The WHO is currently tasked with steering global responses to diseases such as avian flu, which could spread through birds that cross the continent.

Trump is also reversing sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank and has ordered a review of all State Department operations “in line with an America First foreign policy, which puts America and its interests first.”

Security clearances

Trump signed an memorandum allowing his White House counsel to grant interim six-month security clearances — including access to the highest levels of government information — to some aides whose federal background checks are pending.

Trump delayed signing an agreement with the outgoing Biden administration last year that would have enabled the FBI to begin processing those clearances faster. Trump’s order directs that they be granted access to federal property, technology and information immediately.

The order applies to aides, not cabinet appointees. Intelligence experts have expressed concerns about some of Trump’s cabinet picks — such as his proposed director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who has downplayed the actions of hostile states such as Russia and the former Assad regime in Syria.

Artur Wilczynski, a former senior Canadian intelligence official, said Trump’s order opens a point of vulnerability for Canada. He suggested on X that America’s intelligence partners should “be wary of what you share with the U.S. intelligence community. Trump always was, and continues to be, a threat to our national security.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2025.

— With files from The Associated Press

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press