ROME (ITALPRESS) – Canada “will never be the 51st U.S. state.” Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau does not mince words in an urgently convened press conference after the White House’s announcements about imposing tariffs on Ottawa.
What the U.S. president, Donald Trump, wants to see according to Trudeau “is a total collapse” of the neighboring country’s economy. “Because then it will be easier to annex us,” Trudeau continued.
The Canadian response to Trump’s announced tariffs will be mirrored, and thus Ottawa will impose 25 percent tariffs on $155 billion worth of U.S. products. The tariffs, the outgoing premier pointed out, will be triggered in two phases, and the first will affect $30 billion worth of Made in USA products, while duties on the remaining $125 billion will come into effect within the next 21 days.
The U.S. chose “to harm its own citizens by launching a trade war with Canada,” Trudeau said again, who then called “false” the reasons given by the U.S. president to justify the application of the duties, such as
that of the importation of Fentanyl.
“Canadians are reasonable people, but they will not shy away from a battle if the country is at stake,” noted the prime minister, who finally addressed Trump directly, “Donald, you are a smart man, but this is very stupid,” he
declared Trudeau, thus defining a potential trade war between the North American countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced in recent days the implementation of 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting March 4, as well as additional tariffs on China after those imposed in February. “Rivers of drugs continue to flow into our country from Mexico and Canada,” Trump had written on social Truth,
adding that many of these, “in the form of Fentanyl, are manufactured and supplied by China.” The White House chief had then stressed that he would in no way allow “this scourge to continue to harm the United States.”
– Photo Ipa Agency –
(ITALPRESS)
