Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday showed no signs of backing down from his tough stance against the tariff war initiated by US President Donald Trump, as he said Canada will continue its trade onslaught against the country for the “foreseeable future”.
A day after what he described as a colorful call with Trump, Justin Trudeau said his country will not back down from the trade war started by the United States.
He, however, said Canada would continue to engage with senior Trump administration officials about tariffs Washington says it will impose on Canadian imports.
“I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future,” he told reporters in Ottawa.
“We will not be backing down from our response tariffs until such a time as the unjustified American tariffs on Canadian goods are lifted,” he added.
Trudeau and Trump held a 50-minute call on Wednesday.
“It was a colorful call. It was also a very substantive call,” said Trudeau, adding that the two sides were in talks but had nothing to announce yet.
“We are … trying to make sure that these tariffs don’t overly harm, certainly in the short term, certain sectors.”
Earlier this month, the Trump administration placed tariffs on Canada. The Canadian government retaliated, imposing 25 percent of tax on C$30 billion worth of US imports.
Canada has threatened that it would impose tariffs on C$125 billion of U.S. imports.
Trump will exempt automakers from tariffs on Canada and Mexico for one month as long as they comply with existing free trade rules, the White House said on Wednesday.
“Any carve outs that support any workers in Canada, even if it’s just one industry or another, are going to be a good thing,” said Trudeau.
Ever since Donald Trump became the President of the United States for the second time, his administration has been working on implementing reciprocal tariffs on several countries.
Mexico, China and Canada have already levied retaliatory tariffs on the United States, sparking fears of a global trade war, which have upended stock markets across the world, including India.
With inputs from Reuters, AP