By Amanda Stephenson
CALGARY (Reuters) – The CEO of Canadian pipeline company TC Energy Corp. said it continues to favor the U.S. over Canada when it comes to capital investment, even as trade tensions between the two countries escalate.
“I fundamentally believe that this is temporary,” François Poirier said of the volley of on-and-off-again tariff announcements made by U.S. President Donald Trump against Canada in recent weeks.
On Wednesday, Canada said it would impose retaliatory tariffs on C$29.8 billion of goods from the United States effective Thursday morning, in response to the U.S. imposing 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada.
In a phone interview from Houston, where he was attending the annual CERAWeek energy conference, Poirier said volatility and uncertainty are the “enemy of investment.”
But he said the current trade situation has not dampened TC Energy’s belief that the Trump administration’s pro-energy stance will make it easier for the company to build natural gas pipeline infrastructure in that country.
“This is the most energy-literate incoming administration in the last 50 years,” Poirier said. “The message they’ve given to the private sector is ‘figure out a way to move faster, and we will remove obstacles that will allow you to do that.'”
TC Energy, which last year spun off its oil pipeline business in order to pursue a natural gas-focused strategy, is forecasting natural gas demand in North America to grow by 40 billion cubic feet per day over the next decade.
The company sees opportunities to grow by expanding its natural gas network in the U.S. to meet this increased demand.
TC Energy also has its eye on Canadian opportunities, including the possibility of expanding the capacity of its Coastal GasLink pipeline to provide more gas to the LNG Canada export terminal on the British Columbia coast, if the proponents of that facility go ahead with a proposed second phase of development.
But on a conference call with analysts last month, Poirier said TC Energy plans to focus the bulk of its discretionary spending on the U.S. market. He said part of the reason is that Canada’s regulatory system contains more barriers and poses more risk to project developers than the U.S. permitting system.
“Right now, the risk-adjusted returns and the certainty of timelines are better in the U.S.,” Poirier said from Houston on Wednesday, though he added there have been public conversations in Canada recently about the need for the country to diversify its energy export markets.
“We feel a high level of excitement and a sense of urgency to capture that opportunity for Canadians,” Poirier said.
(Reporting by Amanda Stephenson; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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