(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with his provincial and territorial counterparts to discuss Donald Trump’s intention to impose tariffs of 25% on all imports from Canada and Mexico. Because the threat, we agree in Ottawa, must be taken seriously – an emergency debate will be held this Tuesday evening in the House of Commons.
Posted at 9:28 a.m.
Updated at 12:12 p.m.
In a press scrum with her colleague, the Minister of Public Safety, the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, also affirmed that the Trudeau government does not see the threat as a “bluff”. Result: Canada will also impose customs tariffs if necessary, as it has already done in the past, if Donald Trump carries out his threat.
“We will always defend national economic interests and the national interest in general. This is what we have always done and we will continue to do it,” said Mr.me Freeland, recalling that when the first Donald Trump administration imposed tariffs on Canadian products, “Canada responded with dollar-for-dollar tariffs.”
Minister LeBlanc, for his part, affirmed that Canada shares the president-elect’s concerns about border security and the scourge represented by drugs such as fentanyl. He indicated that Ottawa is willing to make the investments required to ensure increased surveillance at the Canada-US border using, for example, drones.
The Canadian Prime Minister had a telephone exchange Monday evening with the president-elect, after the latter threatened to impose 25% taxes on all products coming from Canada and Mexico.
“I had a good call with Donald Trump […] to recall certain facts and talk about the positive relations between our two countries and everything that we can achieve by working together,” he said upon his arrival at parliament on Tuesday morning.
The warning is “to be taken seriously,” said Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who visited several American states as a member of “Team Canada” set up ahead of the The election of November 5, which was won by the Republican.
The latter turned Monday to his network, Truth Social, to announce that one of his first actions, on the day of his inauguration, January 20, would be to sign a presidential decree in order to implement these measures.
“This tax will remain in effect until drugs, especially fentanyl, and all illegal immigrants stop this invasion of our country!” Both Canada and Mexico have the absolute right and power to easily resolve this long-standing problem,” he wrote.
Avoid amalgams
Asked to comment on Donald Trump’s exit, the ministers meeting in parliament at the entrance to the cabinet meeting exercised caution. Minister Champagne still questioned the arguments brandished by the president-designate.
“We must avoid confusing the borders of Mexico and Canada. The Canadian border has been functioning for decades, even more than a century. We are very aware that we must protect this border,” he said in the press scrum.
In government, it was quickly pointed out that last year, the American border agency had made 2,475,669 arrests on the southern border with Mexico, compared to 10,171 on the Canadian-American border.
“This is the equivalent of a busy weekend at the Mexican border,” said the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Marc Miller. And “if it’s a pretext, it’s a pretext that must be taken seriously,” he said.
The minister noted that sending reinforcements to the border was “absolutely” part of Ottawa’s plans.
From Italy, where she participated in the G7 Summit of Foreign Ministers, Mélanie Joly assured that the government would defend Canadian interests. She, who recently met numerous senators, including the influential Republican Lindsey Graham, did not want to say whether Ottawa had been taken by surprise.
PHOTO SPENCER COLBY, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES
Melanie Joly
“The question of the border and tariffs had already been identified by the Cabinet committee on Canadian-American relations, so in that sense, we knew that it was a priority for the Trump administration,” he said. -she affirmed by videoconference.
Canada should impose tariffs ‘if necessary,’ says Poilievre
The leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, accused the Trudeau government of having done its homework poorly and of being poorly equipped to deal with President-elect Donald Trump. And he raised the idea that Canada should impose tariffs on American exports in turn “if necessary.”
“President Trump’s unfair and unprovoked tariff announcement is so disappointing and problematic. But that’s no surprise. He talked about it for years and during his election campaign,” said the Conservative leader during a long statement.
“Suddenly Mr. Trudeau and Mr.me Freeland are shocked. It’s weird because 20 days ago, Mme Freeland said everything was going to be fine for Canada, and there was no threat to Canadians. Obviously they were not ready and we need a plan to put Canada first,” he added.
Mr. Poilievre subsequently urged Mr. Trudeau to cancel the tax increases that are in the pipeline, notably the carbon tax, to significantly increase military spending, to quickly approve development projects for natural resources and secure the Canada-US border.
“What I am proposing is that Justin Trudeau puts partisanship aside and in the spirit of a Canadian team, he agrees to reverse all these tax increases. He is now proposing massive tax increases on investment and energy. It was a bad decision before. “It’s impossible now with Trump’s tariffs,” he said, arguing that the combination of these two measures will “destroy our economy.”
