WASHINGTON—Ontario might respond with its own protectionist measures if the U.S. implements the Buy American policies favoured by President Donald Trump, Premier Kathleen Wynne said Thursday.

In an interview in Washington, Wynne said she had told Trump Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross an hour earlier that “we will retaliate if necessary.”

“We don’t want to do that, but we will if we have to,” Wynne said at the Canadian Embassy.

“There will be real damage done on both sides of the border if Buy America takes hold in any way across the country. And the expectation of our industry will be that we will act in accordance, and we will put in place similar barriers,” she said.

“And that’s what creates a trade war. And we’re not interested in that, we’ve managed to avoid that, we don’t want to go there, but we are prepared to. It’s what our businesses would expect of us.”

Buy American policies vary. In general terms, they require U.S. governments to use U.S. companies for government projects, shutting out companies from Canada and other countries. A similar barrier from the provincial government might limit certain Ontario projects to firms from Ontario or Canada.

Wynne’s Thursday remarks, after her half-hour meeting with Ross, were both her broadest and most direct trade retaliation threats to date. They came as Canadian, American and Mexican negotiators continued to try to hammer out a new North American Free Trade Agreement.

Wynne, trailing in the polls to Patrick Brown’s Progressive Conservatives, faces a tough election in June 2018. At Queen’s Park, Brown said he was “worried about the protectionist rhetoric in the United States.”

“The goal is to have access to American markets. I hope that we don’t get to the point that we’re in a trade war with our largest trading partner,” Brown said in an interview.

“I know that the federal government is trying to ensure that we have open access to the borders and I know that’s difficult with the latest push in the U.S.”

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said that while NAFTA needs to be renegotiated to help workers, she was “worried” about the risks of “one-upmanship.”

“People become hardened in their positions and we don’t end up hammering out a deal that’s going to work for everyone,” Horwath said in an interview.

“I understand that (Wynne) might be put in a bit of a spot, but at the same time we all have to keep our powder dry.”

Trump has vowed to pursue a “Buy American, Hire American” agenda, and his negotiators are attempting to write Buy American policies into the new NAFTA.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government is resisting, saying one of its top NAFTA priorities is keeping government procurement open.

Wynne’s Liberal government has aggressively challenged Buy American proposals in New York and Texas. Ontario’s lobbying, and threats, were widely credited for helping to defeat the New York proposal in April, though the state then approved a narrower measure.

Like Trudeau, Wynne said she is trying to strengthen relationships with state-level leaders during the unpredictable Trump presidency. Dan Ujczo, an Ohio trade lawyer specializing in Canada-U.S. issues, said it is a “terrible” idea to threaten retaliation against state politicians who may support Buy American policies but are otherwise allied with Canada on NAFTA.

“This is not a time to be railing against governors and other state officials,” Ujczo said, noting that Ontario itself maintains a variety of protectionist measures.

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Wynne, making her second trip to Washington in 2017, also met Thursday with three Republican senators: Iowa’s Chuck Grassley, Montana’s Steve Daines and Maine’s Susan Collins. She delivered a lecture at Johns Hopkins University, saying “there is just no question that free trade has been a net good for our people,” according to her prepared remarks.

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