Trump’s talk of annexing Canada is a ploy to distract Americans, Trudeau says
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Donald Trump’s persistent talk of annexing Canada is a ploy to distract Americans from a debate over the damage that the U.S. president-elect’s steep tariffs would cause to their economy.
He was speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper Thursday during a visit to Washington, D.C., for former president Jimmy Carter’s funeral.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly talked of making Canada the “51st state” and on Tuesday went so far as to say he would use “economic force” to coax Canadians into a political union with the United States.
Mr. Trudeau dismissed any chance of Mr. Trump succeeding. “That’s not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian,” he said.
He accused Mr. Trump of manufacturing a debate over annexing Canada to avoid a discussion over the economic fallout that his tariff plans will cause.
“President Trump, who’s a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that conversation” about a takeover of Canada, the Prime Minister said.
Mr. Trudeau said this is overshadowing an important debate that needs to take place about Mr. Trump’s protectionist plans.
In November, Mr. Trump threatened 25-per-cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico unless they took action to stop illegal migration and drug smuggling into American territory. Canada subsequently announced $1.3-billion in new border spending over six years. But on Tuesday, the president-elect suggested this has not satisfied him. He said drugs are flowing across American borders “in record numbers,” and “we are going to make up for that by putting tariffs on Mexico and Canada. Substantial tariffs.”
Tariffs on Canadian imports will drive up costs for American consumers. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce’s Business Data Lab recently estimated that if Mr. Trump proceeds with his pledged tariffs and Canada counters with retaliatory tariffs, the United States’ annual economic output, or gross domestic product, would shrink by 1.6 per cent or US$467-billion, costing Americans approximately US$1,300 per person annually.
The United States needs to have a “conversation around 25-per-cent-tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada,” Mr. Trudeau told CNN.
Many American products are “suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs,” he said of Mr. Trump’s plans.
“That’s something that I think we need to be focusing on a little bit more.”
Mr. Trudeau also met with two American business lobby groups Thursday as Canada tries to persuade American businesses to speak out about the damage the Trump tariffs would cause.
He met with Jay Timmons, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and Joshua Bolten, president of the Business Roundtable, which represents the chief executive officers of major U.S. companies.
Speaking to reporters after the meetings, the Prime Minister again dismissed American annexation.
“Canadians define themselves a whole bunch of different ways, but one of the ways that we all use as shorthand is we’re Canadian because we’re not American, and that is not going to change.”
He said he talked to the business leaders about the value of working co-operatively instead of fighting tariff wars.
“We have become incredibly successful as countries, as economies, as a continent, because we do things so well together,” Mr. Trudeau said. “We’re going to continue to stand up for the interests of workers and consumers on both sides of the border, because there is no relationship in the world like that between Canada and the United States.”
In a separate interview with MSNBC host Jen Psaki airing this weekend, Mr. Trudeau said that when Mr. Trump raised the notion of annexing Canada at their meeting in Mar-a-Lago, the Prime Minister joked about swapping some territory.”And when I started to suggest, well, maybe there could be a trade for Vermont or California for certain parts, he immediately decided that it was not that funny anymore, and we moved on to a different conversation.”
As The Globe reported Thursday, Ottawa is readying a list of American goods that it would target with retaliatory tariffs – including orange juice, ceramics such as toilets and sinks, and some steel products as part of a targeted response should Mr. Trump proceed with his tariff threat.
Mr. Trudeau told CNN Canada would “definitely respond” with counter-tariffs, like it did in 2018 after Mr. Trump put tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. “We responded by putting tariffs on Heinz ketchup, on playing cards, on bourbon, on Harley Davidsons – on things that would hurt American workers.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Americans need to be directly reminded – both around the corporate board tables and on the union shop floors – of the damage that could be done to their own economy should Mr. Trump’s tariff plans take effect.
“We need to put Canada first by locking arms with American economic allies on the ground that will put pressure on Washington to do the right thing,” he told reporters during a press conference in Ottawa.
He said stressing the value of buying oil and gas from Canada, as opposed to foreign countries, is important, though he argued Canada must also diversify its trade by building more gas plants, pipelines and refineries so Canadians products can be sold to the world without going through the U.S.
Mr. Poilievre said he’s yet to directly make that case to Americans himself because he doesn’t have a mandate, reiterating his call for an immediate election.
The Prime Minister’s decision to resign and the ensuing leadership race means “Liberals are putting Liberals first,” Mr. Poilievre said. “It’s time to put Canada first.”
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
