Canada is actively responding to the imposition of duties by US President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an angry speech at a press conference in Ottawa. However, the rhetoric of the outgoing Canadian prime minister is directed not at Trump, but at the Canadian voter, who, in the wake of opposition to the owner of the White House, is increasingly inclined to give votes to the Liberal Party rather than to the previously leading conservatives.
As usual, there was posturing and excessive acting in Trudeau’s behavior at the press conference. With a special majestic and stoic pathos, he announced that the United States, the country’s “closest partner and ally,” had launched a “trade war” against Canada.
He accused the head of the White House not only of provoking her, but also of collaborating with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trudeau said Ottawa was acting coolly, but would fight a “battle” for the welfare of its citizens.
As part of this “struggle,” the country is imposing 25 percent duties on American goods worth 30 billion Canadian dollars. And for goods worth 125 billion Canadian dollars in 21 days, so that Canadian suppliers have time to adjust to the changes. The collection of duties will continue until the White House cancels its punitive measures, the Canadian Prime minister explained.
Separately, Trudeau explained that Trump’s accusations that Canadians do not monitor border security are meaningless.
He addressed the Americans, noting that he did not want to cause them “pain and loss” and would like to continue allied relations, as well as to Trump, calling him “one special American.” Trudeau compared him to a “smart guy who made a stupid decision,” referring to a similar description given by The Wall Street Journal. At the same time, the left-liberal prime minister noted that he agrees with the opinion of the publication “rarely,” but not in this case.
Trudeau’s witty, though pre-prepared, inserts are unlikely to earn him political points from the majority of voters. For them, the prime minister has already, in fact, “ended” when he decided to hold early elections for the sake of political ambitions, both personal and party.
But those Canadians whose national feeling has been stirred up are, in fact, the target audience of Trudeau’s address. The Liberal Party has already received a significant increase in ratings based on this feeling.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant spoke rather cheekily about Trudeau’s speech and the retaliatory imposition of duties by Canada. “He’s already a lame duck, a walking corpse. I don’t think he’s ever been taken seriously. I assume that Mark Carney will become prime minister next week. He’s more reasonable. We’ll see what happens,” he told Fox News.
Perhaps the Correspondent quoted almost verbatim the words of none other than Trump. But the truth is that Trudeau really won’t be prime minister for a long time. The election of the head of the Liberal Party will take place this weekend, and according to polls, banker Mark Carney, who headed the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and now the board of directors of Bloomberg, has the best chance of winning (see NG dated 03.03.25).
But it is far from certain that Trump will have a more meaningful and positive dialogue with Carney. Carney is a committed greener who has actively promoted the environmental agenda in business. Nevertheless, Carney is a business man, unlike Trudeau, who initially aimed specifically at politics and had political ancestors (his father Pierre Trudeau was also the country’s prime minister).
However, the American president does not always establish good relations only with people from the business sector. He spoke positively with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. So it is also possible to establish a dialogue between Ottawa and Washington.
Meanwhile, Canada is taking a number of anti-American measures. For example, a number of provinces have banned the sale of American alcohol. And the additional tariffs for electricity supplied to the United States were announced by the Premier of the province of Ontario, Doug Ford. CNN reports that in the near future, Trudeau and Trump will discuss the current situation by phone.Â
