What happened
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday he would conduct a “relentless fight” to protect his country’s economy from President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs.
Trump’s sweeping import taxes on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, and the retaliatory measures announced by America’s largest trading partners, sent markets tumbling for a second day, erasing the gains notched since Trump was elected on a pro-business platform.
Who said what
“Today, the United States launched a trade war against Canada,” Trudeau said. Canadians are “reasonable and we are polite, but we will not back down from a fight” if pushed. He told the American people Canadians “don’t want to see you hurt either, but your government has chosen to do this to you.” Trudeau said it was not his “habit to agree with The Wall Street Journal,” but “they point out” a trade war with America’s closest allies “is a very dumb thing to do.” The Journal said in an editorial last night that “Trump’s tariffs whack Trump voters.”
As stocks slid, “business leaders and farm state Republicans called for a quick end to the trade war, amid alarm about their bottom lines and a return of surging inflation,” Politico said. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Fox Business Tuesday he thought Trump would “work something out” with Mexico and Canada, not a “pause” but more “I’ll meet you in the middle some way,” and “we’re probably going to be announcing that tomorrow.”
Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly told the BBC she had not been contacted about any deals, adding that while Trump officials “can say many things,” the “only one that really takes a decision is President Trump.”
What next?
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday her country would, like Canada, respond with 25% import taxes on certain U.S. goods, though she was “going to wait” to unveil the retaliatory tariffs until Sunday, after a call with Trump scheduled for Thursday. Chinese spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference that “if war is what the U.S. wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end.”