With just a week to go before Trump takes office, Singh asserted that Canada is “not for sale” and that Canadians are “ready to fight like hell” to protect the sovereignty of the country. “I have a message for Donald Trump. Our country is not for sale, not now, not ever,” he said in a video on X.
Warning of strong retaliation, the NDP leader said, “I lived across the country and I can tell you Canadians are a proud people. We’re proud of our country, and we’re ready to fight like hell to defend it. Right now, with the forest fires, ravaging homes, Canadian firefighters showed up. That’s who we are, we show up and support our neighbours.”
I have a message for Donald Trump.
We’re good neighbours.But, if you pick a fight with Canada – there will be a price to pay. pic.twitter.com/o60c4qIyza
— Jagmeet Singh (@theJagmeetSingh) January 12, 2025
“If Donald Trump thinks he can pick a fight with us, there will be a price to pay. I have committed that if Donald Trump imposes tariffs on us, we should respond with retaliatory tariffs in kind. I think anyone running as PM should do the same,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports unless Ottawa does more to boost border security and has proposed the neighbouring country to become the 51st state of the United States, mocking Prime Minister Trudeau by calling him ‘Governor’.
Earlier, Jagmeet Singh said Trump was “acting more like an internet troll than a US president” while proposing retaliatory tariffs. “That’s how you respond to a bully — with strength. You fight fire with fire to protect Canadian workers and their jobs,” he said in a post.
There is not a “snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada will merge with the United States, outgoing PM Trudeau said earlier this month, while his foreign minister added the country will “never back down” from threats by Donald Trump.
Canada Planning Retaliatory Tariffs On US
Meanwhile, Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly said cabinet ministers will discuss how they could retaliate if the new US administration imposes tariffs on imports from Canada. “We will be talking about retaliatory measures against potential tariffs from President-elect Trump, and we will be ready,” she said.
“I think that when President Trump talks, we listen, and we need to take him very seriously, and we need to show the American people and folks and people around Trump that there will be real consequences,” Joly further warned.
The Globe and Mail newspaper on Thursday, citing sources, said Canada was considering tariffs on a slew of US products including orange juice, ceramic goods, some steel products, glassware, and a slew of plastic articles. Trudeau on Thursday recalled that Canada put tariffs on Heinz ketchup, playing cards, bourbon, and Harley Davidson motorcycles during a bilateral dispute in 2018.
Last week, Trump did not rule out using military or economic action to pursue the acquisition of the Panama Canal and Greenland, and also floated the idea of turning Canada into a US state. He has American spending on Canadian goods and military support for Canada, saying the US derives no benefits from doing so and called the border between the two countries an “artificially drawn line.”
(with agency inputs)
