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But Alberta’s Danielle Smith, fresh off a weekend visit with the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago resort, wants Ottawa to drop “empty threats” of restricting or raising the cost of Canadian energy exports.

The split comes against the backdrop of official silence from the minority government of departing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on how to counter Trump.

Trudeau, who announced last week that he would resign after the Liberals elect a new leader March 9, will host the premiers for a first ministers’ meeting Wednesday in Ottawa on next steps for dealing with the new U.S. administration.

Amid calls by the federal NDP for Canada to cut off critical mineral exports stateside, Ford stressed the importance of Ontario mining to American manufacturing while appearing to distance himself from Smith’s more appeasing stance.

“I’m glad that Premier Smith went down there and had a couple minute(s) chat with him,” the premier told reporters at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Smith told reporters that Canada must “work overtime” in the coming days to “make the case for carve-outs” if Trump goes ahead with his threatened tariffs on all Canadian products.

“We need to be prepared that tariffs are coming,” she said, downplaying the effectiveness of countermeasures, saying “you end up hurting yourself in trying to retaliate.”

Ford, who is chair of the premiers’ Council of the Federation, bristled at that.

“That’s Danielle Smith, she’s speaking for Alberta. She’s not speaking for the country. I’m speaking for Ontario that’s going to get hurt a lot more,” he said, referring to the fact Ontario is by far the biggest subnational trading partner with the U.S.

“You know, they (Trump’s team) aren’t going to go after the oil. They’re coming after Ontario. Let’s be very clear about this — and we’re going to make sure that we do everything we can to protect Ontarian jobs.”

But the Alberta premier, citing a National Bank of Canada report, said the only way to address Trump’s concern about trade deficits is to show the U.S. actually sells $58 billion more to Canada than it buys, once Canadian energy exports are taken out of the calculation.

Noting the shaky federal Liberal government has neither a plan nor a mandate for dealing with Trump, Smith rejected suggestions Ottawa could use Alberta oil exports as leverage in negotiations with Washington.

“They will have a national unity crisis on their hands at the same time as having a crisis with our U.S. trade partners. We just won’t stand for that,” she said.

Dismissing Trump’s ramblings about Canada becoming a “51st state,” Ford said he wants to concentrate on what the two nations can do together.

“Let’s stop wasting time talking about a merger that is never going to happen and instead focus on our efforts on restoring the pride of ‘made in Canada’ and ‘made in the USA,’” said the premier, who will meet Tuesday in É«É«À² with federal Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc to discuss the tariffs.

In Ottawa, federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Canada should “cut off the flow of critical minerals” to the U.S. in retaliation.

Called the incoming U.S. president, “a threat” and a “bully” who is “not rational,” and only understands “force” and “pain,” Singh also endorsed the use of export tariffs on Canadian energy shipments to the U.S.

Ford did not rule out retaliatory measures if a trade war erupts.

“Let’s see what they’re going to do on Jan. 20. Let’s try not to go down that road. It’s just going hurt both economies” he said.

The premier, who last week also called for better integration of Ontario’s energy systems to keep electricity and natural gas flowing stateside, stepped up his “Fortress Am-Can” pitch.

“The success of Fortress Am-Can depends on the critical minerals needed for new technologies, including advanced military technologies that will define geopolitical and economic security for the next century. Ontario and Canada have critical minerals in abundance and America needs them.”

To that end, Ford wants to launch a new “Am-Can Critical Mineral Security Alliance” bolstering the supply chain of resources and boosting the capacity for processing them.

Last Wednesday, Ford made a similar proposal regarding Ontario’s energy exports to the U.S., toning down his Dec. 11 suggestion Ontario was looking at “cutting off their energy” exports to Michigan, New York and Minnesota as retaliation for any American levies.

Trudeau’s government is looking at a wide range of American products on which to impose levies and has not ruled out export tariffs on energy, federal officials told the Star.

A senior government official, speaking on a background-only basis because they were not authorized to publicly discuss Canada’s strategy, conceded that in light of Alberta and Saskatchewan’s adamant opposition, there is a “national unity angle to that” that risks further dividing Canadians.

But on Sunday, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly told Vassy Kapelos on CTV’s “Question Period” that “everything is on the table.”

Lisa Baiton, chief executive officer of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said federal actions to restrict exports would “simply mimic and amplify” the tariffs Trump is threatening to impose.

“Really the Canadian oil and gas industry will be double-tariffed, because our industry is reliant only on one country and one customer — and that, everybody should be very worried about,” said Baiton.

With files from Alex Ballingall