The head of Canada’s Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, promised on Saturday to take strong action against President Trump’s tariffs that hurt the country’s citizens or economy.
At a rally on Saturday, Poilievre, who is regarded as a strong candidate to become the next prime minister, outlined his “Canada first” policy stance and warned that if the United States persists in its efforts to impose tariffs, it may lose a friend in Canada.
“We must respond with strength, and strength means leverage. America has leverage, and we have leverage. I will use that leverage,” Poilievre stated at the rally.
“Retaliation is only the beginning. Yes, we need to retaliate. If they put tariffs on our steel and aluminum, I will put tariffs on their steel and aluminum. If they hit us with generalized tariffs, we will respond dollar for dollar.” he continued.
“Yes, we will carefully target American goods that we don’t need, can produce ourselves or we can get elsewhere, to maximize the impact on Americans while minimizing the impact on ourselves,” he concluded.
In an effort to combat unjust and discriminatory tariffs from both allies and enemies, Trump last week signed a presidential memorandum proposing reciprocal tariffs.
Although the tariffs weren’t put into effect right away, his administration was able to initiate a review process by issuing the memo.
Each foreign trading partner’s reciprocal tariffs would be tailored based on five factors: unfair taxes levied, tariffs the country imposes on American goods, the cost to American consumers and businesses of another country’s policies, exchange rates, and any other unfair practices determined by the office of the trade representative.
White House officials stated that Trump intends to enact the tariffs as soon as possible, estimating that it will take “weeks” and no more than “a few months” to do so.
On Monday, Trump also signed proclamations to increase tariffs on all U.S. imports of steel and aluminum and to take tough measures against China and Russia’s efforts to avoid sanctions. Canada would be particularly affected by the tariffs because it is one of the leading exporters of steel and aluminum to the United States.
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