Trudeau Details Canada’s Retaliation Plans in Emotional Rebuke of Trump Tariffs
Even as Canada’s prime minister announced more than $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs, he made clear that he was imposing them reluctantly.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada laid out more than $100 billion in retaliatory tariffs against the United States late Saturday, in a forceful response to President Trump’s decision to impose levies on a range of Canadian goods. But he made clear that Canada was doing so reluctantly.
“We don’t want to be here,” Mr. Trudeau said in a somber televised address from Ottawa that evoked the deep bonds between the two neighbors and close trading partners. “We didn’t ask for this.”
Mr. Trudeau spoke hours after President Trump hit Canada and Mexico with tariffs of 25 percent on all goods, with a partial carve out for Canadian energy and oil exports. Mr. Trudeau said that Canada would swiftly impose its own “far-reaching” retaliatory tariffs of 25 percent on 155 billion Canadian dollars ($106 billion) worth of U.S. goods.
Initial tariffs worth 30 billion Canadian dollars will start on Tuesday, when the U.S. tariffs go into effect, Mr. Trudeau said. That will be followed by tariffs on 125 billion Canadian dollars worth of goods in the next three weeks, a delay he said would allow Canadian businesses to prepare.
Before Mr. Trudeau’s prime-time address,
Canada had indicated that it would tax Florida orange juice, Tennessee whiskey and Kentucky peanut butter — products from states with Republican senators. Mr. Trudeau said on Saturday night that Canada’s tariff list would also include products like beer, wine, vegetables, perfume, clothing, shoes, household appliances, furniture and sports equipment, and materials like lumber and plastics.
He added that more measures were being considered, including curbing or taxing energy exports that the United States relies on.
Mr. Trudeau addressed Americans directly, saying that the U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods would harm them, too.
“This is a choice that, yes, will harm Canadians, but beyond that, it will have real consequences for you, the American people,” he said. “As I have consistently said, tariffs against Canada will put your jobs at risk, potentially shutting down American auto assembly plants and other manufacturing facilities.”
Mr. Trudeau expressed regret that the two nations, as well as Mexico — all signatories to a free-trade agreement — now find themselves in a trade war that will upend the flow of goods across North America.
Mr. Trudeau is a lame-duck leader at a crucial moment. He has said that he will resign as prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party when his party chooses a new leader, and automatically prime minister, in March. But experts believe the tariffs that take effect on Tuesday will tip the country into a recession, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
Part of Mr. Trudeau’s speech addressed Mr. Trump’s claim that Canada is responsible for a major influx of fentanyl and irregular migrants into the United States. In response, Mr. Trudeau presented recent data showing that only about 1 percent of fentanyl in the United States originates in Canada. He also said that about the same percentage of irregular crossings into the U.S. occur at the northern border.
But he also focused on the historically close ties between Canada and the U.S., including military cooperation in two world wars as well as the Korean War and the war in Afghanistan. “From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of the Korean Peninsula, from the fields of Flanders to the streets of Kandahar, we have fought and died alongside you during your darkest hours,” he said.
“Sure, we’re going through a difficult time right now, and yeah, emotions may run high here and there, particularly around hockey games,” Mr. Trudeau added with a faint smile at another point in the speech. That was a reference to a National Hockey League game between the Ottawa Senators and the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, at which some Canadian fans appeared to boo as the U.S. national anthem was played.
“But I know we’re going to make it through this,” he added, “because we have the most successful partnership the world has ever seen.”
Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Canada bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the country.
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