NWT Premier R.J. Simpson joined his fellow provincial and territorial leaders on a trip to Washington, D.C., last week in the hopes of getting the message across that Canada is not for sale.

The premiers had a chance to sit down with two senior advisors to U.S. President Donald Trump SA国际影视传媒� James Blair, the White House deputy chief of staff, and Sergio Gor, director of the White House presidential personnel office. The Canadian delegation hoped that Blair and Gor would take their words straight to their boss.

"The important thing was to speak to the people who are providing [Trump] with advice and speaking with senators and congresspeople who can put pressure on him," Simpson told SA国际影视传媒 on Tuesday. "What we heard from them is what we hear from President Trump. No surprises, no additional detail or nuance. If anything, I got clarity from them."

The U.S. president signed an order last week to implement what he called SA国际影视传媒渞eciprocal tariffs,SA国际影视传媒� raising U.S. duties to match the tax rates that other countries charge on imports. The duties could come into force as early as April.

This isn't the first time Trump has used or threatened to use tariffs, Simpson said, and he expects that they will be used again, no matter what.

What they'll look like this time is still up in the air.

"We won't know what that will entail until they come into force," he said.

Late last year, Simpson described the tariffs as a concern for all Canadians and, likely, Americans as well. In a statement to NNSL Media last month, the premier pointed out that the territory is not a significant exporter to the U.S. and one of the few jurisdictions to not share a border with the United States.

But those tariffs could have serious effects on what gets shipped to the U.S. from the North.

"The diamond mines, for one, because around 70 per cent of those diamonds end up back in the U.S.," Simpson explained. "If there are issues there, that could cause problems for the mines, including purchasing equipment for the mines."

One thing he said could soften the blow is taking care of the economy in Canada because it's becoming clear that the country can't depend on trade agreements with the U.S.

"We are so heavily invested in that country and it will take time to find other trading partners," he said. "We have to do some work on our economy for the long-term. We need to be able to use the natural resources we have here and have them extracted by Canadian companies, refine them here and use them in the manufacturing of Canadian-made goods. That's how we can best insulate ourselves."

Whatever tariffs are applied to Canada will be answered in kind, he added, with the goal of hitting states that are run by Republicans.

"We just have to be careful that whatever tariffs are applied minimizes the impacts to Canadians," the premier said. "If we put tariffs on products, we want to make sure there's a Canadian alternative."

Foreign relations in the Arctic

Simpson, along with his fellow Northern premiers SA国际影视传媒� Ranj PIllai of Yukon and P.J. Akeeagok of Nunavut SA国际影视传媒� met with Kenneth Hoegh, a representative of Greenland to the United States, and Stig Piras, who works at DenmarkSA国际影视传媒檚 embassy in Washington.

The discussions there, Simpson said, centred around connections across the North along with shared history.

"There's a lot of shared history there, especially when it comes to familial relations between Greenland and Nunavut, but there's also the shared history of the U.S. looking to take over both Canada and Greenland," he said. "We talked about how that was being received, what our governments' responses were and making sure we have good diplomatic relationships. We should be talking and build relationships when we need to."

Another issue Simpson wants addressed is inter-jurisdictional trade within Canada. Right now, there are hundreds of barriers SA国际影视传媒� not necessarily quotas or tariffs SA国际影视传媒� between provinces and territories, and it varies depending on the jurisdiction.

Simpson said that has to change.

"Each province and territory has their own rules, and that creates a number of inefficiencies," he said. "Using logging as an example, you might be hauling logs on a truck from B.C. but when you get to another province, you have to transfer it to a train. Then you get to another province and it has to go back on a truck. Things like that are just slowing us down internally, so we have to look at recognizing each other's regulations and even look at breaking down protections that each jurisdiction has.

"There's support for this among the premiers, but we need to have some results," he added. "The time to do it is now, and if we don't do it now, we'll never do it as a country. I just hope we can find a way to ensure that we remain the economic powerhouse that we are."