Trudeau talks up status quo as government grilled over Trump tariffs
Prime Minister accused opposition of panicking as house accused government of having no plan to avoid U.S. trade tariff threat
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OTTAWA — There’s no need to panic.
Those were the reassurances from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during Tuesday’s question period as opposition parties grilled the government on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s tariff threats.
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“Donald Trump’s threats of tariffs could threaten hundreds of thousands of Canadian mortgage-paying jobs,” said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in his question to the PM.
“The only thing a bully responds to is strength, so where is our plan to fight back? Where is the war room? Where is a concrete plan to bring this issue before CUSMA (The Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement)? Why isn’t the prime minister fighting like hell for Canadian jobs?”
In response, Trudeau insisted everything was under control.
“Rather than panicking, we’re engaging in constructive ways to protect Canadian jobs like we have before,” Trudeau said, pausing briefly for a round of choreographed applause from the Liberal benches.
“I don’t think the idea of going to war with the United States is what anyone wants. What we will do is stand up for Canadian jobs as we have before and as we’ll continue to.”
Trudeau also accused Singh of being overly emotional.
“There is work we can do together, that is work we will do — seriously and methodically, but without freaking out like the way the leader of the NDP seems to be.”
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Despite months of Trump stumping and campaigning on alarming protectionist trade reforms, the Trudeau Liberals have repeatedly rolled out the “no need to panic” defence when questioned by both reporters and opposition members.
“Trump’s attack did not come as a surprise, we saw the writing on the wall,” Singh said in French.
“But the prime minister prefers to turn a blind eye, and he’s saying everything’s going fine. Meanwhile, thousands of Canadian jobs are at risk. Why hasn’t he done anything about Donald Trump’s threats?”
In French, Trudeau again accused the opposition parties of undue panic, assuring Singh that Canada and the U.S. will only succeed by working together and maintaining the status quo.
“We will work with the American administration to address the challenges that both of our countries are faced with,” he said.
“We will work together to create prosperity for our workers and to defend our workers. That’s what we’ve always done, that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
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