Trump to give $7bn jolt to Canada? Republican win leaves Trudeau ex-ally worried
US election winner Donald Trump and Canada PM Justin Trudeau Photograph:( Reuters )
Story highlights
Former Trudeau ally and Canada politician Jagmeet Singh has raised concerns that Trump’s plans ‘are going to hurt people’ in Canada.
Former Trudeau ally and Canada politician Jagmeet Singh has raised concerns that Trump’s plans ‘are going to hurt people’ in Canada.
"Far-left lunatic" and "two-faced", these are the words that United States 2024 presidential election winner Donald Trump once used for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The GOP leader will soon start steering USA’s foreign policy and leaders in Ottawa are already worried.
Former Trudeau ally and Canada politician Jagmeet Singh has raised concerns that Trump’s plans ‘are going to hurt people’ in Canada. “I think about all the people who can be hurt, I think about Ukraine and the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine. I think about Gaza… I am deeply worried about what this means across the world,” Singh said.
Singh also said Trump’s policies may end up hurting the interests of workers in Canada.
“Well I expect that the Prime Minister will come out and state clearly that Donald Trump’s plans are wrong. The fact that he has proposed an across the board tariff is wrong. That is going to jack up the price of everything. It is going to hurt workers in Canada and in the US,” he warned.
Why Canada is worried?
Trump during his election campaign vowed to impose a 10 per cent tariff on goods from Canada. This risks striking the Canadian economy really hard, as the US accounts for 75 per cent of the country’s total exports.
In July this year, the Business Development Bank of Canada projected that if Trump imposes a 10 per cent tariff on the North American country, it could tank the Canadian dollar and drive investments out.
The move may also erode Canada’s GDP worth $7 billion.
Trump and Trudeau shared a strained relationship during the 2016-2020 era, over the Republican leader’s opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which then led to the establishment of the US, Mexico and Canada (USMCA) agreement in 2018.
The same year, Trump even abandoned a G7 joint statement, hosted by Trudeau, over disagreements over tariffs.
(With inputs from agencies)
