US President Donald Trump and outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are scheduled to speak on Monday after the Trump administration imposed sweeping trade tariffs on its neighbor.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday night as he returned to Washington from Florida, AFP reports that Trump told reporters he would “speak with Prime Minister Trudeau tomorrow morning, and I will also speak with Mexico tomorrow morning.”
Canada’s Globe and Mail reports that it is unclear who initiated the call, noting that on Saturday, Trudeau said he had “managed to speak with Donald Trump” since the US president’s inauguration, but the conversation had not yet taken place.
Over the weekend, in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs, Trudeau announced a phased 25% tariff on American products worth C$155 billion (US$107 billion).
Some Canadian citizens have taken trade matters into their own hands after Trump announced the tariffs, boycotting goods from the US.
Reuters spoke with a Calgary resident, Ken Lima-Coelho, who said, “I can’t do anything about this mess we’re in politically with the neighboring regime. But I can change the toothpaste I buy… and that gives us something to do, while we hope our political and business leaders fix this.”
In January, Trudeau announced he would step down as Canada’s prime minister once his Liberal Party in power appoints a new leader. Canada’s Parliament has been suspended until March 24.
Over the weekend, Trump again threatened Canada, claiming the US pays “hundreds of billions of dollars to subsidize Canada” and that “without this massive subsidy, Canada would cease to exist as a viable country.” He repeated his expansionist suggestion – on top of previous threats to take control of the Panama Canal and Greenland – that Canada should become the 51st state of the US.
