Prime Minister Trudeau Puts His Foot Down

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland have taken to the media stage to meet Trump’s tariffs head on, and their stance is undeniably firm.

by Cam Patterson

“The idea that our soldiers who fought and died together on the beaches of WWII and the mountains of Afghanistan, stood shoulder to shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world, and are always there for each other with American soldiers; somehow this is insulting to them,” Trudeau had told the press over countless media interviews since Trump’s tariff onslaught crippled NAFTA negotiations at the eleventh hour.

The insinuation that Canada’s steel and aluminum is a threat to U.S. national security on the premise that supply chain disruption could impede the American’s ability to make war, seems to have been the last straw for Trudeau and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chrystia Freeland.

“Freeland also stated Canada would be taking the case to the World Trade Organization (WTO)”

 

Freeland, who won’t cite this latest tactic as a trade war action, staged her own campaign of television and radio interviews, in which she confirmed that Trudeau’s last effort to meet with Trump and put the new NAFTA deal over the finish line was thwarted before even getting on the plane for Washington. “There is no NAFTA agreement without a Sunset Clause,” she had said, denouncing the U.S. position as unacceptable and compromising the stability of a trade pact between the countries.

The con to the stand-off is there is added pressure now to ratify the 11-country Trans Pacific Partnership, with some beef producers in provinces such as Alberta hoping the Asian and EU markets will open if Nafta goes away completely.

The Canadian retaliatory tariffs go into effect July 1, aimed at key states known to be home base for senators favoring the Trump administration’s trade initiatives.

Farmers in the U.S., many of whom voted the President into the White House, are speaking out and fearing this latest action could spell financial ruin for them.

Canada’s meat industry organizations and associations have yet to release statements.