LAST UPDATE | 4 Mar 2025

PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN Trudeau said that US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada to destroy the country’s economy to make it easier for the United States to annex its northern neighbour.

The extraordinary warning about Trump’s threat to Canadian sovereignty came as the US president delivered on his vow to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods, something Trudeau described as a “very dumb thing to do”.

Canada immediately retaliated, triggering a trade war between previously close allies and threatening future commerce across a border that regularly sees billions of dollars in daily trade.

Trump has said the tariffs are necessary to force Canadian action against what he describes as the flow of undocumented migrants and the drug fentanyl across the border.

Trudeau has maintained that Canada is not a significant contributor to either problem in the United States, and today called Trump’s fentanyl justification “completely false.”

'Even though you are a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses Donald Trump directly in his news conference on US imposed tariffs on Canada. https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3

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Asked about Trump’s motivations for imposing tariffs, Trudeau said the US president, who has spoken often of making Canada the 51st American state, “wants to see a collapse of the Canadian economy because that would make it easier to annex us.”

“The United States launched a trade war against Canada,” Trudeau said.

“Canadians are reasonable. We are polite. We will not back down from a fight.”

Trudeau also addressed Trump directly, saying that while he thinks Trump is a “smart guy,” the tariffs are a “very dumb thing to do.”

Trudeau, who has been in power since 2015, is due to be replaced as the leader of the governing Liberal Party on Sunday.

He has said he will step down as prime minister as soon as the party’s new leader is chosen.

Trudeau has publicly tried to address Trump’s concerns on migrants and fentanyl, in hopes of avoiding the tariffs that came into force on Tuesday.

Canada has pushed through a costly new border security plan and named a fentanyl czar to lead the effort against the killer in opioid.

Trudeau said his focus remained on getting US tariffs lifted “as quickly as possible,” adding that he remained ready to talk directly to Trump.

Meanwhile, the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, said that he would issue a 25% export tax on electricity sold to the US and may later cut it off completely if the American tariffs persist.

Ontario powered 1.5 million homes in the US in 2023 in Michigan, New York and Minnesota.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford also told The Associated Press that he would stop the sale of nickel and rare minerals to the US.

Ontario and other provinces already began removing American alcohol brands from government store shelves.

The Liquor Control Board of Ontario sells nearly 687 million dollars worth of American wine, beer, spirits and seltzers every year.

- © AFP 2025