TORONTO — Roughly $900 billion in annual trade between Canada and the United States — and with it, traditionally chummy bilateral ties — is on the brink of upheaval, with President Donald Trump threatening to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada as early as this weekend.

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the Commerce Department has told US lawmakers that Canada and Mexico can avoid blanket tariffs if they close their borders to fentanyl. "As far as I know, they are acting swiftly, and if they execute it, there will be no tariff," Howard Lutnick said on Wednesday during a confirmation hearing before senators.

Any Canadian response to U.S. tariffs will be regionally fair and equitable and not single out Alberta, Canada's main oil-producing province, Canada's Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said on Wednesday.