Former prime minister Brian Mulroney said today weekend attacks on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by surrogates of U.S. President Donald Trump were unprecedented — but Canadian negotiators shouldn't let the remarks throw them off their trade strategy.
Mulroney — who was prime minister when both the original Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the North American Free Trade Agreement were negotiated — said the Canadian side must not let static from the White House distract from the more serious business of managing the trade relationship with the U.S. and completing high-stakes negotiations on a new NAFTA accord.
Mulroney also said Trudeau's words in the closing hours of the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que. — the ones that seemed to have sent the president into a rage — were hardly unexpected.
"All Mr. Trudeau was doing was, in a rather gentle way, articulating the position of his government, which would be the position of any Canadian government in these circumstances," he said.
"So I don't view it as lethal.... International negotiations, they have their ebbs and flows. This is an ebb."
The former PM said Trudeau would be wise to steer clear of engaging in a Twitter brawl with the president, and added the government's plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products is a sensible response.
"Somebody puts a tariff on your products, you put a tariff on theirs. Now, how it's received on the other side is something else — but that's life."
Canada-U.S. relations seemed to have reached their lowest point in more than a generation after Trump tweeted Saturday that he was withdrawing support from a G7 joint communique, while complaining he had been blindsided by Trudeau's criticism of U.S. tariffs at a closing G7 news conference.
As he flew from Canada to Singapore Saturday night, Trump took to Twitter to label Trudeau "dishonest" and "weak."
Trump's advisers piled on over the weekend, with White House trade adviser Peter Navarro telling Fox News that "there's a special place in hell" for Trudeau. Trump's economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, suggested Trudeau's comments somehow made the president look weak on the eve of a summit meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
"POTUS is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around … on the eve of this," Kudlow said. "Kim must not see American weakness."
MPs set aside their partisan stripes today, uniting to adopt a New Democrat motion to oppose U.S. President Donald Trump's trade tariffs and verbal attacks, and to respond with steep duties on American products.
The symbolic motion from NDP trade critic Tracey Ramsey called on the House to "stand in solidarity" with the Liberal government in its decision to retaliate against "illegitimate" tariffs imposed by the U.S. government on steel and aluminum imports. She said it is critical to stand in unity at this "difficult moment in time."
The motion also rejects disparaging personal attacks by U.S. officials, saying they "do a disservice to bilateral relations and work against efforts to resolve this trade dispute."
Today I introduced a Motion in the House of Commons calling for all parties in Parliament to stand together, united as one during this difficult moment with our US neighbours. Proud to see unanimous consent from all sides. #TrueNorthStrong
The motion also also says MPs "remain united in support of Canadian farmers and supply management, which is integral for dairy, chicken, turkey and egg farming."
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc responds during Question Period to Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen's question regarding the escalating trade war between Canada and the United States. 1:25
The united front comes after an extraordinary weekend in international diplomacy. After his decision to impose tariffs on Canada was criticized in public by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., Trump berated Trudeau on Twitter, calling him "dishonest" and "weak." A number of top Trump officials continued the tirade on national television over the weekend.
Chief presidential economic adviser Larry Kudlow described Trudeau as a double-crosser who had betrayed the U.S. and weakened Trump's position going in to de-nuclearization talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door," White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said in another interview Sunday.
The daily question period in the House of Commons, normally a forum for hyper-partisan exchanges, began today on a conciliatory note. Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen said Canadians watched the weekend's events unfold with "shock and dismay" as Trump hurled insults and threatened more tariffs.
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"We are all Canadians first, and we will stand with Canadian workers and the families impacted by this escalating trade war," she said.
Fisheries Minister Dominic LeBlanc welcomed the support and said the government will continue to fight for Canada's interests.
"We will always stand with Canadian workers and thank our colleagues opposite for their support," he said.
The NDP motion also called on the House to recognize the importance of Canada's "long-standing, mutually beneficial" trading relationship with the U.S., and to stand with Canadian workers and communities that depend on trade ties.
MPs vote in favour of NDP MP Tracey Ramsey's motion to stand in solidarity with the Canadian government's plans for retaliatory tariffs against the United States.