(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave his first major interview since his resignation to the American network CNN on Thursday. His message: the Americans will shoot themselves in the foot if they try to weaken the Canadian economy.
Updated yesterday at 8:24 p.m.
Donald Trump repeats that he wants to make Canada the 51ste American state, “this will not happen”, clarified the Prime Minister.
“Canadians are incredibly proud to be Canadians and one of the easiest ways we define ourselves is that we are not Americans,” he explained. There’s such pride that it’s not really a problem. »
He argued that tweets about Canada posted by the president-elect since his election in November are a distraction. “President Trump, who is a very skilled negotiator, is making people somewhat distracted by this conversation, to distract from the conversation surrounding the 25% tariffs on oil and gas, electricity , steel, aluminum, wood and concrete. »
Everything American consumers buy in Canada will suddenly become much more expensive if it moves forward with these tariffs.
Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, on CNN
Host Jake Tapper had just asked him if he had had any discussions with the president-elect on Thursday during the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter in Washington. “No, not today,” Mr. Trudeau replied. He said Mr. Trump’s re-election had nothing to do with his decision to resign, contrary to what Trump had suggested.
Asked about the retaliatory measures that Canada could impose in turn, the Prime Minister mentioned the tariffs imposed by his government during Mr. Trump’s first term “on Heinz ketchup, on playing cards, on bourbon, on Harley-Davidsons, on things that hurt American workers.”
He did not confirm his government’s intention to impose taxes on Florida’s steel, ceramics, plastics and orange juice.
“We would certainly respond as we did years ago when President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum,” he said. […] But we don’t want to do that because it raises prices for Canadians and it hurts our closest trading partner. »
“Everything an American president does to harm the Canadian economy will also harm American consumers, American workers and American economic growth,” he stressed at the end of the interview which lasted ten minutes.
He said he was willing to continue working with the president-elect, whose swearing-in is scheduled to take place on January 20. “We perform better when we work together to conquer the world, whether it’s China, Russia or elsewhere. »
Poilievre would like to attract Tesla to the country
A little earlier, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had accused the Prime Minister of having created an unstable situation in Canada.
PHOTO ADRIAN WYLD, THE CANADIAN PRESS
The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, during his press conference on Thursday
“We are barely a few days before Donald Trump comes to power, who threatens tariffs against our country and who makes insults declaring Canada to be the 51e State of the United States, and instead of having a Prime Minister who is strong to respond, we have chaos among the Liberals,” he said.
He expressed admiration for Elon Musk, who is close to Mr. Trump. The CEO of Tesla has published several laudatory messages towards the conservative leader on his social network X in recent days.
“Another masterpiece,” he wrote, reposting Mr. Poilievre’s video in which he confronts a journalist while biting into an apple.
The businessman considered the richest in the world by the magazine Forbes has already compared Justin Trudeau to Adolf Hitler and welcomed his resignation.
What does Mr. Poilievre think of this support? “My 3-year-old boy just announced to our family that he wants to visit the planet Mars, so obviously, this is the right contact to have in this case,” Mr. Poilievre first joked at a press conference .
Elon Musk is also the founder of Space X, a company that makes rockets and is planning a mission to the Red Planet. He was chosen by Mr. Trump to reduce the size of the state.
But if I had the chance to speak directly to Mr. Musk, I would ask him how can we attract more investment here in Canada. I believe Mr. Musk is the founder and owner of the largest automobile company in the world. How can we, without doing corporate BS, attract this investment here in Canada?
Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party of Canada
Note that Elon Musk did not found the car manufacturer.
The opportunity to speak to him will not arise during the swearing-in of the president-elect of the United States on January 20 since Mr. Poilievre does not intend to attend. He did not indicate whether members of his team would travel to Washington. Conservative MP Jamil Jivani is a personal friend of Vice President-elect JD Vance.
“I have a warning to Americans: the days of the Government of Canada expelling billions of dollars with expensive and destructive state policies are over,” he said. When I’m prime minister, we’re going to have a free economy with fewer taxes, less taxes, less paperwork, more businesses and bigger paychecks. »
He said he was open to hitting strategic sectors of the American economy with tariffs “if necessary” to deter “an economic attack” against Canada.
It was also the first time that the Conservative leader spoke publicly since the resignation of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday and since Donald Trump’s comments on his intention to use “economic force” to annex Canada. Thirteen Canadian flags were placed on either side of Mr. Poilievre’s lectern for his press conference.
With The Canadian Press
Related News :