A phone call between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the 25% tariffs imposed by the Trump administration this week grew heated and included profanity, a report said.
The Wall Street Journal cited a person familiar with the matter when describing the nature of the call. Canada has imposed 25% retaliatory tariffs against U.S. goods.
The discussion, which lasted 50 minutes on Wednesday, was a “colorful call” but also “very substantive,” Trudeau said Thursday, according to Reuters.
“I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future,” Trudeau said, adding, “We are… trying to make sure that these tariffs don’t overly harm, certainly in the short term, certain sectors.”
TRUMP EXEMPTS MEXICO FROM TARIFFS FOR USMCA GOODS UNTIL APRIL 2
Trump said after the call that Trudeau’s efforts to crack down on the flow of fentanyl across the Canada-U.S. border weren’t “good enough” to stave off his tariffs. He also described the phone call as ending “in a ‘somewhat’ friendly manner.”
“Believe it or not, despite the terrible job he’s done for Canada, I think that Justin Trudeau is using the Tariff problem, which he has largely caused, in order to run again for Prime Minister,” Trump wrote in a follow-up post on his Truth Social account on Thursday. “So much fun to watch!”
TRUMP TELLS TRUDEAU FENTANYL CRACKDOWN ‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’ TO STAVE OFF TARIFFS
Trump also announced Thursday that he would exempt Mexico from tariffs on goods under the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) until April 2.
The decision came after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC, “My expectation is the president will come to the agreement today that USMCA compliant goods will not have a tariff for the next month until April 2.”
Trudeau said Lutnick’s comments “aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I’m going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it,” according to Reuters.
“But it is a promising sign,” he reportedly added. “But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place.”
Read the full article here
