“We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response,” Trudeau said.
Canada stands ready to retaliate if U.S. President Donald Trump decides to impose tariffs on Feb. 1, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says.
“We’re ready with a response, a purposeful, forceful but reasonable, immediate response,” Trudeau said in Toronto before a Jan. 31 meeting of the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations.
The prime minister’s remarks come a day after Trump told reporters in the White House he would follow through with his tariff threat against Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1, for “a number of reasons.”
“No. 1 is the people that have poured into our country so horribly and so much,” he said, referring to illegal migrants crossing the border from Canada and Mexico into the United States.
“No. 2 are the drugs, fentanyl, and everything else that have come into the country. And No. 3 are the massive subsidies that we’re giving to Canada and to Mexico in the form of deficits.”
Trump said he would impose 25 percent tariffs which “may or may not rise with time.” The president also said a decision on imposing tariffs on oil imports could be made that evening.
Trudeau said it’s not known “precisely” what the U.S. tariffs could look like. He said Trump is “still committed to placing tariffs on Canada, starting as early as tomorrow, possibly.”
Ottawa has not said in detail how it plans to retaliate, but Trudeau previously said he agrees with the principle of a “dollar-for-dollar” retaliatory approach. Canada targeted vast sectors of the U.S. economy with tariffs during the 2018-2019 trade war, hitting goods from whisky to dishwashers.
Three Canadian ministers were in Washington this week to make a diplomatic push to avert the tariffs. Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly met with Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 29, but said she didn’t gain more clarity on the U.S. tariff strategy.
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty was also in the U.S. capital to discuss Canada’s $1.3 billion border security plan, established after Trump first made the tariff threat in late November.
By Noé Chartier
