Questioned about his flexible stance, the Prime Minister of Canada became angry: Only two countries dare to impose tariffs on the U.S., and we are one of them.

【By Observer News, Yuan Jiaqi】

After Trump returned to the White House, Canadians had to face the threat of becoming the 51st state of the United States and began to see their mutual dependence with the US as a risk rather than an opportunity.

According to Bloomberg on the 16th, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted in an interview with the media that the US is no longer the partner Canada once had, and its priorities have shifted. "Given the fundamental changes in Canada-US relations, we clearly need to take action," he said.

However, American media pointed out that Trudeau's attitude towards the US during his campaign was completely different from after taking office.

When questioned about his soft stance towards Trump, he quickly denied it, saying, "First of all, it should be clear that only two countries in the world have imposed retaliatory tariffs on the US, and we are one of them."

He did not explicitly mention the other country, but American media added that the country is China. After the Stockholm trade talks in August, China and the US announced to "suspend the implementation of 24% tariffs for 90 days."

Previously, the EU had also prepared to impose retaliatory measures on approximately 100 billion euros (11.7 billion USD) worth of US goods, but it suspended the countermeasures after reaching a trade agreement with the US in August.

Trudeau interviewed by Bloomberg. Bloomberg

However, the American media host did not accept his argument and even "added fuel to the fire", pointing out that although Trudeau had once vowed to "stand up against the bully (referring to Trump)" during his campaign, his current tone was much milder. Moreover, in response to Trump's dissatisfaction with Canada's digital services tax, the Canadian Treasury unexpectedly canceled the policy just before it took effect to advance trade negotiations with the US.

Bloomberg's report further noted that this tax policy was introduced before Trudeau's government came into power and would have affected American tech giants such as Meta and Amazon. However, after Trump threatened to cut off trade negotiations, the Canadian government canceled it just hours before the policy was to take effect. The media believes this is a clear demonstration of America's influence.

Trudeau also admitted that the failure of the digital services tax was indeed related to Trump's opposition. But he defended himself, saying, "We made the decision based on the context at the time. Look, what happened after we canceled the digital services tax? Within weeks, Trump confirmed through an executive order that most of our trade enjoyed zero tariff treatment."

Trudeau defended his change in attitude, saying that as prime minister, his job was to strive for the best possible outcome for Canada.

"In the short term, the US has a huge influence over Canada, the EU, and the UK. Because our economy was built on certain consensus in the past, but these consensus have changed now," he said. "So part of the current work is to stabilize this (bilateral) relationship."

At the same time, Trudeau emphasized that the core strategy for dealing with American pressure is, "We can give ourselves far more than the United States can take away" (We can give ourselves far more than the United States can take away).

He said that this requires Canada to build a domestic economic integration and achieve external diversification to ensure that Canada "never falls into such a passive situation again." Trudeau said, "This takes time, but it is worth it."

Regarding the US's plan to initiate a renegotiation of its largest free trade agreement, the USMCA, Trudeau stated that Canada's strategy is to clearly point out to the Trump administration that the economic integration among Canada, the US, and Mexico in key areas such as steel and automobiles is crucial for the US's competitiveness.

"We can make the US stronger in these areas, and our strategy is to ensure that this is fully understood," he said.

Trudeau also said that he has learned a lot from Trump. This statement, however, was met with a pointed question from the American media: "When you canceled the consumer carbon tax, you used a similar approach to Trump signing an executive order in front of the camera. Are you learning 'showmanship' from Trump? That doesn't seem like the style of a Canadian."

Trudeau denied it, "Strictly speaking, I don't think it was influenced by him. I just feel that in times of great public pressure and uncertainty, 'clear statements' are important."

He added, "When you are in a crisis, such as this trade crisis, economic crisis, or even sovereignty crisis, you not only need to act decisively, but also let the public see your decisiveness. That's what we did at the time."

Last week, Trudeau met with Trump at the White House for their second meeting since he became Canadian Prime Minister.

This meeting lasted two and a half hours, and Canada hoped to reach some important agreements on trade and tariff issues between the two countries, paving the way for the final conclusion of a new economic and security agreement between the two nations.

However, according to a report by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on October 8, despite the good atmosphere during the meeting, Trudeau still failed to reach an agreement on the tariff issue.

According to American media reports, when asked whether Trudeau would get any concessions or return empty-handed, Trump said he hoped to replace Canadian products with American-made cars and steel products in the US market. He even bluntly stated that it was impossible to reach a completely tariff-free agreement with Canada.

"I think they will be very happy to leave," he said, "The Canadian people will love us again."

Canadian media noticed that during the meeting, Trump once again mentioned the idea of merging Canada with the US. According to the report, when Trudeau mentioned some so-called diplomatic achievements of Trump in his second term, Trump interrupted and interjected, "Also, the merger of Canada and the US." Trudeau smiled and vaguely replied, "No, that's not what I meant to say."

According to CTV Television of Canada, Dominic Leblanc, the Canadian minister responsible for Canada-US trade, intergovernmental affairs, and Canadian economic integration, said after the meeting that the meeting between the two leaders was "successful, positive, and effective," but he did not explain why the two sides had not yet reached a tariff agreement, only stating that representatives from both sides would continue dialogue and focus on steel, aluminum, and energy sectors.

As the province with the largest population and the biggest economic volume in Canada, Ontario's Premier Ford said on the 7th that he had lost patience with the US. If an agreement could not be reached soon, Canada should take retaliatory tariff measures in response.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7562190631750140435/

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