Quebec Premier Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said the province would prepare a diplomatic effort to reach U.S. counterparts, as the United States accounted for more than two-thirds of Quebec’s merchandise exports.
St-Pierre Plamondon made the remark Nov. 4, the day after the U.S. midterm elections. “Americans have spoken, the situation has changed,” he said, according to The Canadian Press. He said the results could improve prospects for easing trade tensions.
The Journal de Québec reported that Quebec would first open discussion channels. St-Pierre Plamondon has not decided whether the province should seek a direct role in tariff negotiations, the newspaper reported.
Quebec’s merchandise exports totaled C$59.4 billion in the first half of 2026, a 2.6% decline from the same period a year earlier, the Institut de la statistique du Québec said. The United States received C$40.5 billion of those exports, or 68.2%, while shipments there fell 7.2% year over year. The agency did not link that decline to tariffs.
The figures put the U.S. market at the center of Quebec’s export picture: it took more than two-thirds of the province’s merchandise exports during the period, even as total exports and shipments to the United States both declined.
A Quebec government tariff summary dated Nov. 2 lists U.S. tariffs of 50% on steel and aluminum, 25% on some derivative products and 10% on lumber and softwood lumber. It also identifies separate anti-dumping and countervailing duties on softwood lumber. The summary says rates and covered products vary, so the listed percentages do not apply uniformly across goods.
The accounts did not give a timetable for the outreach or identify which U.S. officials Quebec would approach. The Associated Press reported that Democrats won control of the House and Senate and are expected to take over when the new Congress begins next year.
