Tariffs divide, but North America will soon be connected — by TC Energy’s natural gas pipelines

In the recent turmoil over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs and threats, discussions of energy have centred on Canada’s role as a supplier of oilsands fuels and electricity. Lost amid the trade war talk is the right-of-way Canada is helping to secure for powerful gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) corporations through the continent.

The role of firms like TC Energy, formerly TransCanada Pipelines Ltd., is only beginning to receive the attention it warrants. Through financing from Export Development Canada dating back over a decade, TC Energy has received significant backing from the Canadian government for its pipelines stretching from Canada, through the U.S. and down to Mexico.

Some of these pipelines and proposals have been controversial across the continent. The best known is Keystone XL, which was cancelled twice by U.S. Democrats due to climate considerations (the company has since split off its oil pipeline assets, including Keystone, into a spinoff company called South Bow.) But there have also been TC Energy’s alleged violations of Indigenous territorial rights through the Coastal GasLink project on Wet’suwet’en territory, which kicked off a national movement of blockaded infrastructure in solidarity with the nation. Various TC Energy pipelines in Mexico, have been criticized by Indigenous groups, including Regional Council of Indigenous Peoples in Defense of the Territory of Puebla and Hidalgo opposing the route of the Tula pipeline project, and groups near the Veracruz coast opposing the Southeast Gateway project. 

In October 2023, land defenders met in Toronto and Ottawa to declare themselves “United Against TC Energy” and draw attention to a collective continental struggle against construction of billions of dollars worth in pipelines, infrastructure that would tie three countries’ shared energy grid to the ongoing exploitation of fossil fuels for decades to come.

TC Energy has sought in recent years to remake itself as a continental firm, dropping Canada from its name and moving into larger U.S. headquarters at the former Bank of America building in Houston. Texas is not only important for the U.S. and global oil economies; it also shares a border with Mexico which, through agreements signed by previous Mexican governments, has become a customer for American gas production as its shale revolution makes it a fracking superpower.

While Trump has made no secret of his dislike for the U.S. trade deficit in energy with Canada, this is not the case for its southern neighbour. Mexico was formerly a net exporter of hydrocarbon energy to the United States, but between 2015 and 2017, it became a net importer of U.S. hydrocarbons and fracked gas. TC Energy pipelines are now the largest conduit of U.S. fracked gas to the Mexican energy grid. TC Energy/TransCanada’s role in both Canadian and U.S. policy concerning Mexico’s energy sector is notable: at one point its corporate affairs director in Mexico served as co-chair of the energy subcommittee of the bilateral Mexico-Canada partnership.

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Even prior to its name change, TC Energy described itself as the largest Canadian investor in Mexico. And despite its Canadian roots, TC Energy today appears to be close to the Trump administration. In a series of stories on the company last year, The Narwhal uncovered TC Energy’s links to Trump, connections that have since been reported on by others: Trump’s national security advisor Mike Waltz is married to current TC Energy vice-president Julia Nesheiwat, who was homeland security advisor to Trump in his first presidency. 

Trump followed through on steel and aluminum tariffs this week and it remains unclear how far he will go. But the threats they represent have materialized in other ways. The tariff threats put pressure on both northern and southern neighbors to secure controversial infrastructure that the oil and gas sector and the Trump administration support. In British Columbia, the NDP provincial government immediately signalled it would expedite LNG projects to Asian and non-American markets in the wake of U.S. threats. As author Seth Klein recently noted in the National Observer, this is the same foolhardy argument that siphoned billions from the public purse to build the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion when the vast majority of this oil is refined on the U.S. west coast. Kai Nagata of Dogwood points out the vast majority of LNG and pipeline investment is driven by people connected to Trump’s White House: for example, multi-million dollar mega-donor Steve Schwarzman, “who is betting big on a continent-wide expansion of LNG exports.”

TC Energy is increasingly cautious in B.C. given its experience with costly delays and reputational damage while building Coastal GasLink. It offloaded its Prince Rupert Gas Transmission line last year. But as the province’s liquefied natural gas sector explodes, the company’s continental role looms large and its reach extends across the Pacific. Gas piped through Coastal GasLink will be refined at a Kitimat, B.C., facility and exported to foreign markets in 2025, likely Japan and South Korea. Southeast Gateway is expected to start operating this year, connecting natural gas operations from Canada, through the U.S., into Mexico. 

However worried the Canadian government might be about Trump’s tariffs, it’s still brokering access for a pipeline company linked to the interests of his administration — one working hard to lock all of North America into natural gas.