Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday announced retaliatory tariffs against the US in response to President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian imports, which were implemented earlier in the day.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed he and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo agreed to work together to push back against Trump’s long-awaited taxing program, which he claimed was aimed at halting the influx of drugs into the US.
Trump put a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports, while Chinese products will receive a more modest 10% tariff.
The US will also impose 10% tariffs on energy products from Canada.
For its part, Canada plans to put a 25% tariff on $155 billion worth of US goods, including beer, wine and bourbon, fruits and fruit juices, vegetables, perfume, clothing and shoes.”
“Many of us will be deeply affected. A lot of people will go through dark times. We’re asking you to support one another, to be there for your friends, your neighbors, and your fellow Canadians,” he said, adding that it might be in the country’s best interest to forgo American products altogether, like Florida orange juice.
Trudeau, who is leaving office in the next six weeks, slammed Trump’s tariffs as a “threat targeting the entire country” that would also have serious ramifications for the US.
“This is a choice that yes, will harm Canadians, but beyond that, it will have real consequences for you, the American people,” Trudeau said.
“As I have consistently said, tariffs again against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities. They will raise costs for you, including food at the grocery stores and gas at the pump.”
The Canadian Prime Minister implied that the heavy tariffs represent an act of betrayal against its “closest ally and neighbor.”
He also admitted that he had not been able to talk with Trump since his inauguration last week, but is determined to forge a path toward a resolution that would not include tariffs.
When asked about Trump’s threat to issue even harsher tariffs if Canada retaliates to the new US tariffs, Trudeau said that would not stop him from making his countermove and that all the leaders of the Candaian provinces agreed.
Earlier Saturday, Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo ordered retaliatory tariffs on the US and blasted Trump’s suggestion that the Mexican government harbors alliances with criminal organizations and cartel members.
“If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year,” Sheinbaum said on X.
“If the United States government and its agencies wanted to address the serious consumption of fentanyl in their country, they could, for example, combat the sale of narcotics on the streets of their main cities, which they do not do, and the money laundering generated by this illegal activity that has done so much harm to their population,”
Sheinbaum said she had told her economy minister “to implement Plan B” which she said “includes tariff and non-tariff measures” though it was not clear what those measures were exactly.
“To this end, I propose to President Trump that we establish a working group with our best public health and security teams. Problems are not resolved by imposing tariffs, but by talking and dialoguing, as we did in recent weeks with your State Department to address the phenomenon of migration; in our case, with respect for human rights,” Sheinbaum said.
China also responded to Trump tariffs against them by saying they will bring a complaint to the World Trade Organization and that they would take “corresponding countermeasures to resolutely safeguard our own rights and interests”.
“China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes this,” Beijing’s commerce ministry said in a statement.
