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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau teared up as he made a pledge to support the Canadian people, amid an ongoing trade war with Donald Trump.
Mr Trudeau is in his final weeks as the country’s leader after he was forced to resign by his party over internal disputes about how to handle the US president and his tariffs on Canadian imports.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Mr Trudeau became visibly emotional while saying he had worked hard for the country.
“On a personal level, I made sure that every single day in this office, I put Canadians first, that I have people’s backs, and that’s why I’m here to tell you all, we got you, even in the very last days of this government, we will not let Canadians down today and long into the future,” he said as his eyes welled with tears.
“We want to continue to be strong and resolute in our response and we will continue to be there for each other because the unity that Canadians are feeling right now is actually the most important thing in being able to stand up against the trading partner that is much bigger than us,” he said.
“We are in a moment right now where Canada has a very, very strong bargaining position, because Canadians are so united and unequivocal about standing up for our country, standing up for our fellow citizens, and being very, very firm that this is an absolutely unjustified and unjustifiable trade war launched by the Americans, and that is what we’re going to continue.”
The relationship between the North American allies has continued to sour, with The Wall Street Journal reporting that Mr Trudeau and Mr Trump had a profanity-laden phone call on Wednesday. However, on Thursday Mr Trump said he was granting a month-long reprieve to some of the slated 25 per cent tariff increases on certain goods from Canada and Mexico.
The US president has claimed Canada is among several countries “ripping off” the United States, and has downplayed the impact increased taxes on imports would have on American consumers.
“Now, these are countries and companies, foreign companies, that have been ripping us off, and no President did anything about it, until I came along, and I did a lot about it,” he said. “A lot of them are globalist countries and companies that won’t be doing as well, because we’re taking back things that have been taken from us many years ago. We’ve been treated very unfairly as a country.”
Mr Trump says the tariff hikes are in retaliation to floods of fentanyl coming across the US border from both Mexico and Canada, however very little fentanyl enters the country from its northern neighbour. Canada announced retaliatory tariffs in February.
Mr Trudeau has previously called the unilateral tax increases “a very dumb thing to do” and has said the trade war started by Trump could continue for some time.
In January, Mr Trudeau announced he would be stepping down as prime minister ahead of the Canadian election due by October to make way for a fresh leader, after infighting within the Liberal party over his initial handling of Trump’s trade war.
“This has been the honour of my life, serving Canadians,” he said.
