[ Source: Reuters ]

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday that his tariffs on Canadian imports were “a very dumb thing to do” and said Ottawa was striking back immediately at its closest ally.

Trudeau, who is stepping down at the end of the week, also accused Trump of wanting to ruin the Canadian economy.

Speaking hours after Trump launched a trade war against Mexico and Canada, Trudeau announced immediate 25% tariffs on C$30 billion worth of U.S. imports. If need be, Canada will target another C$125 billion worth in 21 days’ time, he said.

“There is absolutely no justification or need whatsoever for these tariffs,” Trudeau told reporters, adding that Canada would challenge the U.S. measures at the World Trade Organization and through a U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement already in place.

“Canadians are reasonable and we are polite, but we will not back down from a fight, not when our country and the well-being of everyone in it is at stake,” he said.

Trump responded by saying the Canadian retaliatory tariffs would be met with immediate reciprocal tariffs of the same size.

Trump has accused Canada of failing to do enough to stem the flow of the deadly fentanyl opioid and its precursor chemicals into the U.S., an argument Trudeau called “completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false.”

Trudeau’s relations with Trump, which have never been warm, deteriorated in recent months after the president repeatedly talked of Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state and mockingly referred to Trudeau as its “governor” rather than prime minister.

Trump says he is unhappy with the trilateral U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal that he signed in his first term. Trudeau played down the idea of opening talks ahead of a review scheduled for 2026.

“Given that he is choosing to want to ruin the Canadian economy, I don’t know whether to bring forward negotiations, given the situation of such bad faith that we’re in,“ said Trudeau, who warned Canadians that tough times were coming.

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