OTTAWA — When Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meets on Friday with the leaders of Canada’s provinces and territories to work out a national carbon pricing plan, Donald J. Trump will also be in the room, in a manner of speaking.

The president-elect has expressed skepticism about climate change, support for the fossil fuel industry and a desire to pull the United States out of the Paris climate accord. That has raised a big question for Canada: Can it move forward with a carbon policy if America is headed in the opposite direction?

Mr. Trudeau certainly wants to push ahead. His government wants every province and territory to adopt a plan to reduce carbon emissions by putting a price on them — either through a tax on fossil fuels or a cap-and-trade system of emission allowances for industry. If they refuse to do one or the other voluntarily, he has warned, the national government will impose a plan on them.

Many of Mr. Trudeau’s political rivals argue that it would be irresponsible to move ahead now with carbon pricing in Canada if the United States will not be doing the same thing. But carbon-tax proponents say the opposite, that Canada could gain a competitive advantage by acting before its much larger neighbor.