A “shocked” premier Kathleen Wynne is expressing hope U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s anti-trade rhetoric was just campaign bluster.

Speaking to the Star on Wednesday, Wynne said she is “worried” about Trump’s threat to rip up the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that is so vital to Ontario’s economy.

“My biggest fear … is the trade relationship,” the premier said, mindful the United States is far and away the province’s most important trading partner accounting for 80.5 per cent of Ontario exports.

“The degree that this undermines a North American strategy, I think we have to worry about that,” said Wynne, noting Ontario’s thriving auto industry is so entwined with that of Michigan they are interdependent.

The premier also said she was concerned about the impact of a Trump presidency and a Republican Congress on efforts to tackle climate change because the incoming president has claimed global warming is a “Chinese hoax” perpetrated to hobble American manufacturing.

“We’ve made a lot of progress on the climate change discussion globally and if we’ve got a president who really doesn’t see the importance of that, it puts so much at risk,” she said.

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Ontario has entered into a cap-and-trade system with Quebec and California that other states and provinces could join.

“Those sub-national relationships become even more important,” she said, adding national governments are also essential to the crusade.

Quebec premier Philippe Couillard, who also would have preferred a Hillary Clinton victory, said the future of the fight against climate change, as well as cooperation with Ontario and California on a carbon market, are sources of “uncertainty” and “worry.”

On the Paris Accord — the global climate change deal recently ratified — Couillard said while it is easier for Trump to say he will withdraw from it than actually do so.

“The United States is clearly a major partner. It is an unavoidable player. But I see things like China making a move toward setting up a national carbon market. It will be difficult for a great country like the United States to ignore that,” the Quebec premier said.

Wynne, for her part, emphasized there are lessons for leaders around the globe from Trump’s surprise victory that few pollsters had foreseen.

“We can’t take anything for granted on any side of the political spectrum,” she said, pointing out that “this election puts a lot of that perceived wisdom in context” when it comes to polling.

Voters — especially in “rust belt” states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — feel the system is stacked against them, she said.

“They voted against unfairness. So we’ve got a real responsibility to recognize that and to make sure that we do everything in our power every day to make this as fair of a society as we can,” the premier said, referring to aggrieved Americans who feel they are being left behind by globalization.

“We know we’re stronger if we have a fair society. What’s happened in the United States really emphasizes that.”

Still, Wynne said she had no regrets about being so publicly critical of Trump.

In a June interview with the Star at the Canadian embassy in Washington, she warned his divisive talk was “very dangerous for Canada” and “very dangerous for the world.

The premier stood by those comments in the cold light of Wednesday morning after Tuesday’s election.

“I was saying what I believe,” said Wynne.

Ontario’s first female premier —who has met with Hillary Clinton in the past — said she had hoped to see a woman elected president.

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“It would be such an important message to young women in the United States and in the world,” said Wynne.

“So, this is the reverse of that message and we have to understand why that’s happening. What is it about what’s happening right now that the terribly divisive things, because it wasn’t just about women (or) other groups…” she said.

“Why did that not stop him? What is it about people that they feel so angry and so left behind and so excluded that they were able to push that kind of rhetoric aside?”

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