| | | |  | | By Nick Taylor-Vaisey, Doug Palmer and Mike Blanchfield with Philippe J. Fournier | Presented by Canada's federal workers |
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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook. Let’s get to it. In today's edition: → Get to know JAMIESON GREER, Trump's pick for next tariff sheriff. → The cast of players on Trump's tariff team. → BILL BLAIR and FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE make the rounds in D.C. |  | DRIVING THE DAY | | | 
Jamieson Greer entered the Trumpworld orbit as chief of staff to former USTR Robert Lighthizer. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images | GREER UP — Fun fact: DONALD TRUMP's pick for U.S. trade representative can argue rules of origin in both of Canada's official languages. JAMIESON GREER's French may sound more Parisian than Montrealer, given his three years studying at Panthéon-Sorbonne University and Sciences Po. Still, any proficiency in the language of Quebec's dairy farmers surely can't hurt during high-stakes trade talks. — Hot seat: Greer's confirmation hearing is underway at 10 a.m., when senators will quiz the USTR nominee amid an apparent detente in the Trump administration's trade war with Canada and Mexico — and just as a tariff tiff with China enters its first days. For Pros, ARI HAWKINS set up a showdown between Greer and Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.), who sent him a letter on Tuesday with a litany of concerns. — The backstory: Greer entered the Trumpworld orbit as chief of staff to former USTR ROBERT LIGHTHIZER, a longtime colleague on the international trade team of lawyers at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. In his 2023 book, "No Trade Is Free," Lighthizer described his protegé as "organized, patient, and always at the office." When he made remarks at a January 2020 USMCA signing ceremony, Lighthizer referred to the "long-suffering" Greer as the man with the "unenviable task" of backing him up at USTR. — Greatest hits: Greer stakes a claim to Trump 1.0's biggest trade feats, having been "deeply involved" in a 2020 deal with China and a "critical part" of the effort to persuade Congress to approve the USMCA, according to his King & Spalding bio. He pitched in on "every major Administration trade action" over three years as Lighthizer's right hand. Trump celebrated Lighthizer's book as a "masterpiece," penning an endorsement in which he pledged to "rely on America First Patriots like Bob Lighthizer to make our Country great again." Trump hasn't formally tapped the former USTR, but Greer certainly fits that bill. — China focus: In an interview with the Financial Review, Eurasia Group's DAVID BOLING set the stakes for his former USTR colleague's broad approach — which will sound familiar in Ottawa. “On China, [Greer] will work with trading partners who take a clear-eyed view of China’s unfair trading practices. But he will have very little patience for those who show no backbone in dealing with China,” Boling said. | | | | A message from Canada's federal workers: Remote work has revolutionized the way we work in Canada. It boosts productivity, enhances work-life balance, saves taxpayer dollars, and reduces traffic and pollution. Remote work is how we'll build the public service of tomorrow—one that uses cutting-edge technology, maintains a human touch, and delivers better services to families and businesses. It creates a diverse workforce from communities across Canada while putting people first. Visit remoteworks.ca. | | | | | Where the leaders are | |
— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Ottawa and will deliver remarks at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities’ Big City Mayors’ Caucus meeting.
— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE headlines an evening party fundraiser at the Toronto Club. — Bloc Québécois Leader YVES-FRANÇOIS BLANCHET is touring Quebec's Gaspésie region. Blanchet will meet the Baie-des-Chaleurs Chamber of Commerce and the owner of Distillerie des Marigots. — NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH is in Montreal where at 10:45 a.m. at Delta Hotels Montreal he will speak to media about his plan to respond to Trump’s tariffs. Later, he will meet with MAGALI PICARD, president of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec. — Green Leader ELIZABETH MAY is in D.C., where she'll attend the National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton. She'll meet Amb. KIRSTEN HILLMAN at the Canadian Embassy at 1 p.m. May's itinerary also mentions meetings with members of Congress and senators. | | DULY NOTED | |
— Trudeau will host a "Canada-U.S. Economic Summit" tomorrow in Toronto. The confab aims to "build a long-term prosperity agenda for Canada" that "breaks down barriers between provinces and territories" and "is diversified in global trade."
Are you heading to the summit? We are, too. Drop us a line . — Liberal leadership candidate MARK CARNEY headlines a Rockcliffe Park campaign fundraiser this evening. 1:30 p.m. Liberal leadership candidate FRANK BAYLIS will hold a presser in West Block to discuss strengthening Canadian democratic institutions. | | For your radar | | | 
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, left, and Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, right, listen as President Donald Trump prepares to sign an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday. | AP | DEALMAKERS — As Canada scrambles to keep up with Trump's evolving demands on tariffs and trade, JAMIESON GREER will play a key role in whatever happens next. But one of Ottawa's first lessons in Trump 2.0 is that trade fights won't have a single pointman. Here are some of the emerging voices as dealmakers in Ottawa, Washington and Mexico City clash and/or cooperate in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. — HOWARD LUTNICK: The pick for Commerce secretary comes from New York. His financial services firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, lost hundreds of employees — including his own brother — trapped in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Lutnick raised millions for Trump, who tapped him to co-chair the POTUS transition team. Finance Minister DOMINIC LEBLANC forged a connection with Lutnick following his nomination, dining at Mar-a-Lago and texting ever since. They helped broker the deal that avoided punishing cross-border tariffs. → More from POLITICO: Meet the Trump whisperer trying to save Canada’s economy. — TOM HOMAN: Trump's border "czar" is a former border patrol agent who served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump 1.0. He has referred to the Canada-U.S. border as a "huge national security issue," and is a leading proponent of Trump's deportation policy. LeBlanc also first connected with Homan late last year. — PETER NAVARRO: Many Canadians will remember Trump's senior counselor for trade and manufacturing thanks to a 2018 outburst in which he claimed a "special place in hell" awaited Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU. In conversation with POLITICO this week, Navarro said this of the tariff tiff with Canada: It’s “a drug war, not a trade war." — KEVIN HASSETT: The brand-new director of the National Economic Council spent part of Trump 1.0 as chair of the president's Council of Economic Advisers. Hassett took a shot at Trudeau's government on CNBC this week, claiming Canadian officials "appear to have misunderstood the plain language" of Trump's executive order on tariffs as a trade war, instead of a drug war. Hassett asserted the misread was "consistent with the policies we've seen from this failed government in the past, where they let their own drug problem get out of control." — WILLIAM KIMMITT: Trump's nominee to head the International Trade Administration worked for the USTR in the final year of Trump's presidency. Kimmitt, according to his Kirkland & Ellis bio, has "extensive involvement in the implementation and entry into force" of the USMCA, including "significant engagement with senior foreign officials." — JEFFREY KESSLER: Trump's pick as head of the Bureau of Industry and Security served as assistant secretary of Commerce for enforcement and compliance in Trump 1.0. His work according to his WilmerHale bio included "monitoring foreign compliance with trade agreements." — SCOTT BESSENT: Trump's Treasury secretary is a Wall Street hedge fund manager who worked at GEORGE SOROS' firm before founding Key Square Group. Bessent was once a fundraiser for Democrats before allying himself with Trump. He has since raised millions for the president. Bessent has previously said “tariffs are inflationary and would strengthen the dollar — hardly a good starting point for a U.S. industrial renaissance.” | | | | We’ve re-imagined and expanded our Inside Congress newsletter to give you unmatched reporting on Capitol Hill politics and policy -- and we'll get it to your inbox even earlier. Subscribe today. | | | | | | | PAPER TRAIL | | META MONEY — On Jan. 23, Ottawa let Meta out of a federal advertising penalty box after almost a year and a half. CTV News first reported some of the details Wednesday. In July 2023, when the social giant started blocking Canadian news from Facebook and Instagram, the Liberal government suspended advertising activities on both platforms. — A clear trend: Ottawa dished out C$11.65 million on Meta platforms in 2020-21 — 59 percent of its social media spend. That number dipped to C$11.42 million the next year, and C$6.9 million in 2022-23 — still half of the overall total. In 2023-24: C$476,271. — Water under the bridge: The government's first ad campaign for a new Meta era focused on the GST/HST tax "holiday" that runs until Feb. 15. A statement from the Privy Council Office acknowledged the obvious: target audiences for federal measures are as addicted as ever to doomscrolling. OK, that's not quite how the PCO put it. — Here's how they said it: "With important programs rolling out that can make a real difference in people’s lives, it is essential that Canadians receive credible information about government programs designed to support them, including on social media, which remains a primary source of information for many," read a statement. — Caveat of note: "Advertising on a social media platform does not imply endorsement of a platform’s actions or decisions." Translation: We still have beef with Meta. | | ALSO FOR YOUR RADAR | |
POLITICO ROUNDTABLE — Canada could go shopping for its defense needs, instead of buying from the United States, if Trump follows through on a threat to apply 25 percent, Canadian Defense Minister BILL BLAIR said Wednesday.
“I can go to the Koreans. I can go to the Europeans. There are lots of other places that are making things that we could buy,” Blair said during an interview at POLITICO’s office, while emphasizing his strong desire to continue making purchases from the United States. Blair said the U.S. and Canadian defense sectors have long been integrated. — Quote of note: “The work we do in NORAD and NATO together, it creates a really strong incentive for us to work closely together. But if through tariffs, that working integration in our industries is going to be challenged, then some of the rationale for buying in the U.S. could be diminished,” Blair said. Both Blair and Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE seemed open to ramping up purchases of U.S. defense goods in order to convince Trump not to impose the punishing duties. But limits on U.S. “industrial capacity” raise questions about how much more Canada could buy in the short-term since some manufacturers already have years of orders on their books that need to be filled first, Champagne said. | | | | A message from Canada's federal workers:  
| | | | | FROM THE DESK OF 338CANADA | |
BUMPY RIDE — Call it the “Trudeau resignation bump,” the “Trump uncertainty bonus,” the “Carney confidence effect” — whatever is happening, the Liberals will take it.
— Follow the leader: A new Quebec-only poll from Léger for Le Journal de Montréal gives the federal Liberals a boost in support in the province. When the pollster asked respondents for party preference with JUSTIN TRUDEAU as leader, the Liberals tied the Bloc Québécois at 29 percent — an 8-point jump for the Liberals and an equivalent slide for the Bloc since Léger’s mid-January poll. PIERRE POILIEVRE's Conservatives finish third with 24 percent. — Crazy for Carney? Léger also tested the Liberal leadership frontrunners. A CHRYSTIA FREELAND-led party offered a negligible improvement over Trudeau: 30 percent support in the province. Insert MARK CARNEY's name and the party jumps to 38 percent. It's a hypothetical, but for context: The party hasn’t enjoyed such popularity in Quebec since the peak of the pandemic in 2020. Details of the Léger poll are available from the Journal de Montreal here.
| | TALK OF THE TOWN | |
WHAT, US WORRY? — As Ottawa anxiety runs hot over DONALD TRUMP’s next move, a crowd of students, policy experts, retired diplomats and academics searched the historical record for solutions to Canada’s potentially existential crisis with the U.S.
ADAM CHAPNICK was guest of honor at the University of Ottawa confab. The Royal Military College of Canada defense studies expert delivered a lecture and took questions. — Timely talk: Chapnick recently co-authored "Canada First, Not Canada Alone: A History of Canadian Foreign Policy" with St. Francis Xavier University's ASA MCKERCHER. — Unity now: Chapnick urged Canada to come together, but avoid a foreign policy that is “useless to everyone." The stakes are high: "Worst case, we actually tear the country apart.” What if expansionist Americans truly pursue a dream of manifest destiny? → The big “but”: “If the United States decides to take Canada by military force, we have two choices. One is we surrender. Or two is a version of mutually assured destruction, where the fact that we share intelligence with the United States becomes a way to destroy all of us. You don't have a lot of options,” said Chapnick. → Don’t worry, really: “There’s no national interest case for America taking Canada over. We’re expensive. We’re annoying. We’re hard to defend. We give them what they want anyway. Why would you want the bother of taking responsibility for Canada?” | | | | A new era in Washington calls for sharper insights. Get faster policy scoops, more congressional coverage, and a re-imagined newsletter under the leadership of Jack Blanchard. Subscribe to our Playbook Newsletter today. | | | | | | | MEDIA ROOM | | | 
| — In a POLITICO interactive, our colleagues point out 37 ways Project 2025 has shown up in Trump’s executive orders. — To Trump, everything that’s wrong with the global economy is represented by one economic number: America’s trade deficit, ANA SWANSON of the NYT reports as new numbers reveal it widened to nearly $1.2 trillion in 2024. — CBC News reports: PIERRE POILIEVRE promises to hit fentanyl 'kingpins' with mandatory life sentences. — STEPHANIE HA reports that International Trade Minister MARY NG told CTV that the federal government will not be making concessions on supply management. — Newly retired Sen. JEAN-GUY DAGENAIS gave an exit interview to LAURA RYCKEWAERT of The Hill Times. | | PROZONE | |
For POLITICO Pro subscribers, our latest policy newsletter by NICK TAYLOR-VAISEY and SUE ALLAN.
From ZACK COLMAN and CATHERINE ALLEN: Trump’s early energy policy. In other news for Pro readers: — Trump’s trade war could hit ‘friendshoring’ plans hard. — Google scraps pledge not to use AI for weapons. — Wright offers energy 'abundance' vision in first remarks to DOE staff. — We asked DeepSeek about geopolitics. It gave us Beijing talking points. — This subreddit is the hottest place for feds right now. | | | | A message from Canada's federal workers: Remote work has revolutionized how we work in Canada. It boosts productivity, enhances work-life balance, saves the government money, and reduces traffic and pollution. It also creates a more inclusive public service, bringing in talent from communities across the country.
Remote work is how we'll build the public service of tomorrow—one that uses cutting-edge technology, maintains a human touch, and delivers better services to families and businesses. It's a smarter, more efficient way to serve Canadians while saving taxpayer dollars.
Despite its clear benefits, the government's push for rigid office mandates ignores the proven advantages of remote work. It's time to embrace the future and focus on policies that deliver real results for Canadians. Learn more at remoteworks.ca. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | |
Birthdays: HBD to ROCCO ROSSI (former CEO of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce), ALYKHAN VELSHI and former Bloc MP ÈVE-MARY THAÏ THI LAC.
HBD + 1 to EMILY PEARCE RAYNER of Nutrien. Spotted: Senate pages, sworn in. Movers and shakers: Wellington Advocacy brought on TASSO HOUSAKOS as a senior consultant in Ottawa, as well as ASHLEY WILDE and LUCAS ROBERTSON as Calgary-based consultants. Got a document to share? A birthday coming up? Send it all our way . | | TRIVIA | |
Wednesday’s answer: About seven percent of Canada’s population was in uniform at some point during World War I.
Props to BOB GORDON, MALCOLM MCKAY, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, GORDAN RANDALL, RAY DEL BIANCO, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, MARCEL MARCOTTE, DARRYL DAMUDE and LAURA JARVIS. Today’s question: Who did PM STEPHEN HARPER name international trade minister on this date in history? Send your answer to ottawaplaybook@politico.com Writing tomorrow's Playbook: MICKEY DJURIC. Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and Luiza Ch. Savage. Advertise in our Playbook. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | |
