Both Ottawa and Edmonton should stop pulling out their hair over U.S.president-elect Trump’s recent threats to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imported Canadian oil and gas.

As we’ve seen for the past 12 months of the U.S. presidential campaign, Trump routinely says things completely contrary to what he has said before.

Are these contradictions just Trump just going off-script and ad hoc? Or are they intentional – is he dumb like a fox – designed to throw opponents off balance? Either way, it’s important to see beyond them. If you want to know what Trump is really going to do, just follow what is most in his self-interest.

The simple fact is this: the U.S. needs Canadian oil and gas just as much as we need competitive access to American markets. Without Canadian oil and gas, American consumers will pay more, much more, to run their cars, turn off their lights and heat their homes.

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