Trudeau-Italian PM affirm trade bonds
One day after Donald Trump called Canada a “disgrace” for policies that hurt American farmers, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he plans to be respectful and engage with the U.S. on a fact-based approach to solve problems.
“I will stand up for Canada’s interests, I will stand up for Canadians,” Trudeau said Friday during a news conference alongside the visiting Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni.
“The way to do that is to make arguments in a respectful fashion, based on facts, and work constructively and collaboratively with our neighbours.”
Trudeau offered that reply to the U.S. president’s latest antiCanada trade tirade, one in which Trump savaged Canada for creating a new lower-priced classification of milk product that he argues is hurting U.S. producers.
Both Trudeau and Gentiloni, who was in Washington himself on Thursday, were keen to display their support for free trade and open borders - including the Canada-EU free trade pact in the face of growing populist opposition.
Trump’s presence was strongly felt during the visit, as is becoming almost routine with most of Trudeau’s international interactions.
In the wake of his own visit to the White House, Gentiloni said Canada and Italy share a common, pro-trade world view and that they live in “interesting times.” He also said the antitrade movement is bigger than one single country - the U.S.
“The United States president’s opinions are perfectly legitimate,” the Italian leader said through a translator.
“But we have to be aware of the fact that this push that goes against free trade as a catalyst for world growth ... that is why we need to work politically, culturally and economically to
fight against this trend.”
Italy is to host the G7 leaders’ summit next month, which will be part of Trump’s entry into the world of multilateral summitry.
Trudeau said the subject of the upcoming summit formed a large part of his talks with Gentiloni. Trudeau also said he will have an audience with Pope Francis in Vatican City after the G7 talks.
Trump on Thursday praised Italy’s contributions to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and its efforts to promote stability in Libya.