U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he wanted the Keystone XL Pipeline built and pledged easy regulatory approvals for the project, which was opposed for years by environmentalists before its permit was revoked by the Biden administration.

The declaration garnering an enthusiastic reception from Alberta and Saskatchewan’s premiers but a tepid one from the company spun off from its erstwhile proponent.

The pipeline was first proposed in 2008 to bring oil from the Alberta oil sands to U.S. refiners and was halted in 2021 by then-owner TC Energy Corp after former Democratic President Joe Biden revoked a key permit needed for a U.S. stretch of the project.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump urged the company that was building the pipeline to “come back to America,” saying his administration would offer easy approvals and an almost immediate start.

“The Trump Administration is very different (from the Biden administration) – easy approvals, almost immediate start! If not them, perhaps another Pipeline Company. We want the Keystone XL  Pipeline built,” Trump said in the post.

Trump’s post did not name a company and only referred to the one that was building the pipeline earlier.

TC Energy spun off its oil pipeline business in October last year into a new company named South Bow Energy.

1:45 Could Alberta purchase Keystone XL?

Opponents of that pipeline had fought its construction for years, saying it was unnecessary and would hamper the U.S. transition to cleaner fuels.

The Keystone XL pipeline was expected to carry 830,000 barrels per day of Alberta oil sands crude to Nebraska, but the project was delayed due to opposition from U.S. landowners, Native American tribes and environmentalists.

Trump had approved a permit for the line in 2017, but it continued to face legal challenges that hampered construction.

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Biden had committed to canceling the project during his 2020 campaign and revoked the permit soon after taking office in 2021.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took to social media on Tuesday to show her support for reviving the Keystone XL pipeline, posting on X the project “should have never been cancelled” and saying let’s “focus on getting shovels in the ground right away!”

A spokeswoman for South Bow Corp., the oil pipeline operator spun off from TC Energy Corp. last fall and now the owner of the existing Keystone system, says the company has “moved on” from the XL expansion project.

“We continue to engage with customers to develop options to increase Canadian oil supplies to meet growing demand,” Katie Stavinoha said in an email.

The Keystone XL project — a 1,900-kilometre pipeline that would have run from northern Alberta to the major U.S. crude storage hub at Cushing, Okla., and then on to Gulf Coast refineries — was first proposed during the Obama administration, which rejected it on environmental grounds.

It was then revived under the first Trump administration, before former president Joe Biden killed it again by revoking the pipeline’s permit on his first day in the White House in 2021.

1:58 Trudeau-Trump meeting fuels Keystone XL revival speculation

Richard Masson, executive fellow with the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, said the interest in resuscitating Keystone XL doesn’t jibe with Trump’s plans to ramp up domestic oil production while slapping U.S. neighbours with tariffs.

“It seems inconsistent to say we’re going to tariff the existing oil that’s coming in and still try and get somebody to build a pipeline,” he said.

“It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Masson said he suspects Trump is “just really playing to his base,” which is keen on developing oil projects in general.

The Canadian government is “open to having a productive conversation” about advancing Keystone XL, the communications director for Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said in an email.

“Canadians have always been a reliable energy supplier to our American friends — but unjustified tariffs and threats against our sovereignty hurt our ability and desire to be an energy partner to our southern neighbour,” said Joanna Sivasankaran.

The Keystone XL project in its current form has all the Canadian permits it needs and the pieces north of the border remain in the ground, Sivasankaran added.

“A private sector proponent would need to step forward to advance the project, and there is not currently one expressing they would do so,” she said.

“Canada wants to see our continent become an energy-secure superpower, and the government is supportive of steps that secure positive outcomes for Canadians.”

2:00 Political pipeline ponderings continue amid Trump tariff talks

Masson said he can’t see any company jumping at the chance to propose a pipeline that two U.S. presidents have cancelled.

“It’s been a really bitter pill for most people in the industry to swallow and why would anybody want to take that on, unless maybe you had an explicit guarantee from the U.S. that was ironclad that said if things go south, they’ll pay for it.”

Several oil producers would also have to sign up to ship significant volumes on the line for decades, “and there just isn’t that much oil planned to be produced in Canada these days.”

Producers could justify oilsands expansions, which require years of lead time and billions in investment, if market access were guaranteed, Masson added.

“That’s not an issue,” he said.

“But you’ve got to get the timing of those things right. And right now the level of uncertainty is so high that it seems really difficult to see how that could happen.”

With files from Kanishka Singh, Reuters

&© 2025 The Canadian Press