By Canadian Press

Minister Duclos says it should be ‘relatively easy’ to sell Trump on icebreaker pact

Jan 8, 2025 | 3:41 PM

OTTAWA — Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says it should be “relatively easy” to convince incoming U.S. president Donald Trump not to scuttle an icebreaker production pact with Canada.

Trump said Tuesday the U.S. should go it alone and doesn’t “really want a partner” on icebreakers.

Duclos says Trump’s administration indicated to Canada during his first mandate that it supported the cooperative effort.

He says the Americans will benefit from the deal, since the U.S. is finding it “very hard” to come up with the number of icebreakers it needs.

The trilateral “ICE Pact” with the U.S. and Finland was signed under President Joe Biden and unveiled at the NATO summit in Washington last summer.

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The agreement is designed to ramp up production of icebreakers to help safeguard the Arctic and Antarctic regions as climate change melts polar ice, and to strengthen each nation’s shipbuilding industry.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2025.

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press

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Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos arrives for a Liberal caucus meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday, Jan.8, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

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