Critics back PM in fight

TRUMP’S TIRADE SPARKS CALLS FOR CALM, PROMISES OF SUPPORT FOR TRUDEAU

Leaders from across Canada’s political spectrum voiced their support Sunday for free trade and opposition to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum while denouncing the Trump administration’s unprecedented attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Among them were some of Trudeau’s fiercest critics, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer and incoming Ontario premier Doug Ford, both of whom promised to stand with the government as it seeks to resolve what has become an allout trade war with the U.S.

Former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, meanwhile, questioned Trump’s “obsession with trade relations with Canada” during an appearance on U.S. television.

All of the comments came after Trump unleashed a Twitter tirade against Trudeau following the G7 on Saturday, in which the president called the prime minister “dishonest and weak.”

Trump also threatened to go after Canada’s auto industry, a mainstay of the Ontario economy, in the same way that he has already done with its steel and aluminum sectors.

The tirade was enhanced by extensive comments Sunday from two of the president’s closest advisers who said the prime minister betrayed Trump in comments Trudeau made at the end of the G7 summit in the Charlevoix region of Quebec.

Trump’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Trudeau made Trump look weak ahead of his North Korea summit, while trade adviser Peter Navarro said there was a “special place in hell” for the prime minister.

“It’s certainly not helpful to have that type of language when we’re dealing with two governments, two countries that have had a long history of mutual support, mutual cooperation,” Scheer told reporters during an event at an Ottawa gas station on Sunday.

“That’s why we have been doing what we can to present that united front when we’re talking about the benefits of NAFTA, when we’re talking about the benefits of free trade for both Americans and Canadians.”