U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is threatening a 25 per cent tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico.
Trump said the tariffs would remain until the two countries clamp down on drugs and migrants crossing the border.
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” Trump said in a social media post late Monday.
“We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had a “good call”with Trump on Monday evening following his announcement of the planned tariffs.
“We obviously talked about laying out the facts, talking about how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth,” Trudeau told reporters on Tuesday.
“This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that’s what we’ll do.”
Trudeau said he also plans to meet with the premiers” this week” to discuss Canada-U.S. relations ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
“One of the really important things is that we be all pulling together on this. The ‘Team Canada’ approach is what works,” he said.
On Monday, ahead of Trump’s announcement, Canada’s premiers called for an urgent meeting with the prime minister.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who chairs the Council of the Federation, the group of Canada’s 13 premiers, wrote to Trudeau that they want to discuss a “Team Canada” approach to engaging with the incoming Trump administration on trade, secure borders, energy, defence and cross-border supply chains.
The premiers are also seeking clarity on how the federal government plans to engage with them during the upcoming review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement on free trade.
