Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, condemning his blanket tariffs as “a very dumb thing.”
“It’s not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you’re a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do,” Trudeau said at a press conference in Ottawa.
The comments come as Trump’s long-threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States took effect at 12:01 a.m. Canada responded with its own tariffs, imposing an initial $30 billion in duties on U.S. goods, with a threat to add $125 billion in April.
The escalating trade war rattled financial markets. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 800 points, or 1.9 per cent. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also declined by almost 2 per cent, continuing the previous day’s losses.
Trudeau questioned whether the trade war’s alleged catalyst—illegal fentanyl crossing the border—is really at the root of the tariffs.
“I think what President Trump said yesterday, that there is nothing Canada or Mexico could do to avoid these tariffs, underlines very clearly what a lot of us have suspected for a long time: that these tariffs are not specifically about fentanyl, even though that is the legal justification he must use,” he said.
Trudeau acknowledged that a prolonged trade war would hurt Canada’s economy.
“To my fellow Canadians, I won’t sugarcoat it: this is going to be tough,” he said.
