Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday responded strongly to US President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and said that Ottawa is willing to inflict economic pain on its neighbour country to get Trump to back down.
According to a report on CBC News, Trudeau promised that Canada would respond in “robust, rapid” and “very strong” retaliatory measures.
Speaking at a special cabinet meeting in Montebello, Trudeau said that he “expects a great deal of uncertainty” when dealing with Donald Trump.
The Canadian PM further said that Trump is a skilled negotiator and he “does what he can to keep his negotiating partners a little off balance.”
Trudeau, however, added that Canada is also a good negotiator and “it is willing to inflict economic pain on the US to get Trump to back down.”
Trudeau asserted that Canada’s main goal is to avoid the proposed US tariffs and foster “a very positive relationship with the US,” however, he added that the country won’t roll over in the face of Trump’s threats.
Trudeau said if Trump really wants to usher in a “golden age of America” with a booming economy, he’s going to need Canadian natural resources like oil, lumber, steel, aluminium and critical minerals to make that happen.
“That gives Canada some leverage,” Trudeau said.
This comes after Trump announced that his administration is planning to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada from February 1.
“We are thinking in terms of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people … to come in, and fentanyl to come in,” Trump said.
“I think we’ll do it on February 1,” he added.
In his first day in the Oval office, Trump signed a new “America first” trade policy that directs officials to study unlawful migration and fentanyl flows from Canada and other countries and report back by April 1 on possible trade action to resolve what that policy calls an “emergency,” the report said.
Even during the final days of the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump had threatened to impose a tariff of 25 per cent on all imports from Mexico, which is the top trade partner with the US, unless the Mexican government reduced the flow of migrants at the southern border.
He also threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Canada and China.