Trump tirade condemned
OTTAWA — Canada’s House of Commons stood Monday in defiance of Donald Trump, denouncing his name-calling tirade against Justin Trudeau and endorsing the prime minister’s firm response to protectionist U.S. tariffs and tweeted presidential threats against dairy producers and automakers.
MPs of all political stripes unanimously adopted a motion to that effect proposed by New Democrat MP Tracey Ramsey even as Trump continued to rail against what he described as unfair trade policies of Canada and other traditional U.S. allies.
“At this moment in our history with our U.S. neighbours, Canadians need to know that all sides of this House stand united as one,” Ramsey said before introducing her motion.
The motion calls on the House to recognize the importance of Canada’s “long-standing, mutually beneficial trading relationship” with the U.S., “strongly oppose” the “illegitimate tariffs” imposed on steel and aluminum, stand “in solidarity” with the Trudeau government’s decision to impose retaliatory tariffs and remain united in support of the supply management system of regulating Canada’s dairy and poultry industry.
And it concludes with a direct shot at Trump, calling on the House to “reject disparaging and ad hominem statements by U.S. officials which do a disservice to bilateral relations and work against efforts to resolve this trade dispute.”
But the House of Commons wasn’t the only place Trudeau found support.
A former U.S. ambassador to Canada called on Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro to apologize for saying “there’s a special place in hell” for Trudeau, whom he accused of practising “bad-faith diplomacy” at the weekend G7 summit in Quebec.
“As the former U.S. ambassador to Canada I am calling on Peter Navarro to formally and publicly apologize to @JustinTrudeau and more importantly the Canadian people for his insulting and inappropriate remarks,” tweeted Bruce Heyman, who was ambassador under former president Barack Obama.
Average Americans weighed in as well on Twitter, using a “#ThanksCanada” hashtag to recount all the reasons they appreciate Canada.
Trudeau himself was nowhere to be seen Monday, taking a break after hosting the tense, three-day summit, to which Trump arrived late, left early and then upended with a Twitter tirade from Air Force One. But Trudeau’s absence was also likely part of a delib- erate strategy to not add fuel to the Trump fire.
Former Conservative cabinet minister James Moore, a member of the government’s advisory group on NAFTA, hailed Trudeau’s approach, refusing to react to “the noise, the bluster, the Twitter, the emotional outbursts.”
He said there’s still hope that stalled negotiations for a modernized North American Free Trade Agreement can be revived, provided Canada stays calm and measured in response to Trump’s rants.
“Don’t take the bait, don’t dance this dance of countervailing insults and emotional outbursts. It’s not the right approach,” Moore said.
“Stay calm, keep moving forward, be the adult and come back with meaningful and substantive policies at the table that makes sense to arrive at an appropriate NAFTA outcome.”
Similarly, former interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, also a member of the NAFTA advisory group, said Trudeau is doing the right thing.
“The approach of just keeping a cool head and continuing to be constructive and productive and staying at the table and offering innovative, creative ideas to get to a resolution in the renegotiation of NAFTA is the best way, I think – the most effective way to save the current NAFTA accord.”
Ambrose said the government needs to consider what more it’s willing to put on the NAFTA table, keeping in mind that “what’s at stake is just so much bigger than our pride. This is about our economy and millions and millions of jobs.”
As well, she said the government should accelerate work on its Plan B in the event that Trump blows up NAFTA or follows through on threats to impose tariffs on autos and auto parts.