Trade war escalates: Trudeau slams Trump’s tariffs, vows retaliation - Things to know

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has strongly condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, calling it an unjustified trade war and vowing to fight back.
Canada responds with tariffs
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Trudeau criticized the US move, saying, “Today, the US launched a trade war against Canada, their closest partner and ally.” In response, Canada imposed 30 billion Canadian dollars ($21 billion) in tariffs on US goods, with a promise to escalate the countermeasures to 125 billion Canadian dollars within three weeks.
Trudeau warned that American businesses and consumers would feel the impact of these tariffs, addressing Trump directly: “This is a very dumb thing to do.”
Trudeau accuses Trump of economic sabotage
The Canadian leader went further, accusing Trump of deliberately trying to cripple Canada’s economy for political and strategic reasons. He suggested that the US president sees Canada’s economic downfall as a means to strengthen US leverage and even push for annexation.
“Trump wants to see a complete collapse of the Canadian economy,” Trudeau claimed. “Because that will make it easier to annex us. That is never going to happen.”
Fentanyl claims rejected as ‘false excuse’
Trudeau also dismissed Trump’s justification for the tariffs—citing fentanyl smuggling from Canada—as “an unjustified and false excuse.”
To address US concerns, Canada had taken proactive steps, including appointing a “fentanyl czar” and designating Mexican cartels as terrorist groups. However, these efforts did not prevent Trump from moving forward with the tariffs.
Trump’s tariffs timeline