Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said he felt bad for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “position of weakness” regarding his recent visit to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort to discuss tariffs on Canadian imports.
Trudeau attended Trump’s estate late Friday to discuss the incoming president’s pledge to impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports once he takes office in January.
Trump cited Canada’s loose border control as a reason for wanting to implement the tariffs, accusing the Trudeau government of not doing enough to prevent illegal immigrants and illicit drugs from entering the US via Canada.
Poilevere had strong words for Trudeau in the wake of his visit, calling the prime minister “weak,” and claiming that he’s “lost control” of the country.
“While I’m a critic of Mr. Trudeau’s I did feel badly that he went in with such a position of weakness,” Poilievre told reporters on Sunday.
“Normally when a prime minister goes into the United States to meet a president, they’re looking to make gains. What gains did we hear from Mr. Trudeau? None. He’s just trying to limit losses. Did he come back saying, ‘we’re going to get an exemption to buy American,’ like Harper achieved with Bush? No.”
Poilievre also cited how former prime minister Stephen Harper was able to negotiate a tariff-free deal with then-president George W. Bush on the export of Canadian softwood lumber to the U.S.
“Not only are the tariffs still in place, Biden just doubled them,” he said. “All Justin Trudeau offers is minimizing losses. This is the consequence of having a weak prime minister who’s lost control. Lost control of our borders, lost control of immigration, lost control of crime and drugs and lost control of our economy.”
“Canadians are paying a dreadful price for everything that Justin Trudeau has broken and we need a strong prime minister who has the brains and backbone to put Canada first and to fight for our workers and our security,” said Poilievre.
The Conservative leader called for Trudeau to present a plan to Parliament on how he would bulk up security along the US border ahead of Trump’s return to the White House. Trump has pledged to introduce the tariffs as one of his many first executive orders.
Following his meeting with Trudeau, Trump referred to their meeting as “very productive.”
“We discussed many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address, like the Fentanyl and Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration, Fair Trade Deals that do not jeopardize American Workers, and the massive Trade Deficit the U.S. has with Canada,” said Trump in a social media post..
Representatives of the Trudeau government were allegedly told that the US tariffs could not be avoided in the short term because the Trump administration was adamant about their effectiveness, sources told CTV News. However, they added that if border security is tightened, the tariffs could possibly be lifted in the long term.
The two also discussed NATO, Ukraine, China, the energy sector and the importation of fentanyl into both countries.
Trump called the importation of fentanyl a “drug epidemic,” and said that “Prime Minister Trudeau has made a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation of U.S. Families.”
Trudeau told reporters on Saturday before returning to Canada that the meeting was an “excellent conversation.”
Many economists agree that such tariffs would devastate Canadians and are bracing for the worst, saying it could “destroy prosperity on both sides of the border.”
“These tariffs would be bad news not just for Canadians, but also for the many American businesses and workers who rely on Canadian materials to produce their goods,” vice president of communications for the Montreal Economic Institute Renaud Brossard told True North.
Trump campaigned on an across-the-board 10% tariff on all imports into the US, however, he’s upped the ante since winning the election.
According to a report published by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce published last month, such a measure would cost the Canadian economy between 0.9% and 1% of the country’s GDP.
This would result in a loss of $1,100 in real annual income for every Canadian and American.