Canadians are 'perplexed' by Trump's tariffs, ambassador to the US says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: ABC News

February 2, 2025, 12:33 PM


In an interview on ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said Canadians are "perplexed" and "disappointed" by President Donald Trump's tariffs. White House officials announced Saturday that Trump has imposed 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and 10% tariffs on goods from China. Trump had long threatened tariffs against Canada and Mexico to ensure their cooperation to stop illegal immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the U.S.

The tariffs are expected to be implemented on Tuesday but Hillman said her government is continuing to discuss the situation with the Trump administration. "We're hopeful that they don't come into effect on Tuesday," she said. "We're ready to continue to talk to the Trump administration about that, and in particular about all the work that we're doing with them and on our own, with respect to the border."

Hillman said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump discussed Canada's plan to meet some of his demands, although not recently, and discussions between the two governments are continuing. "Not in recent days, but they have discussed it, and we've discussed it with senior members of the White House as well, and we've laid out our plan, and my understanding is that the plan and some of the actual outcomes, results of what we have done, have been presented to the president," she said.

Trudeau responded to the tariffs on Saturday evening, announcing his country will implement 25% tariffs on $155 billion Canadian dollars (about $107 billion U.S. dollars) of U.S. goods. The prime minister said he has not talked to Trump since his inauguration.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/canadians-perplexed-tariffs-ambassador-us/story?id=118344949

[Quakerfriend]

1. He's doing what Pootie told him to do. n/t

[applegrove]

2. I noticed when Trump tweeted this morning that Canada

should become the 51st State he didn't claim Canadians would have better healthcare as part of the USA like he did the last time he rattled off the reasons why. We know the lie well and we watch and hear Americans suffer in so many ways with inadequate Healthcare.

[Biophilic]

3. Well, a lot of Americans are perplexed and confused also.

These tariffs make no sense what so ever except in a bizzarro world.

[malthaussen]

4. Nothing "perplexing" about it. The man is insane.

I could see why the Ambassador is having trouble finding a rational reason for it. But surely he can see that "rational" applies to nothing the current Administration is doing.

-- Mal

[Picaro]

5. Gee, I'm perplexed also

I cannot understand why Trump is going after Canada.

Is it because Trump noticed that Melanie’s showed obvious attraction when meeting Justin Trudeau (And I picked that up from one still photo when they were greeting one another—as did the rest of the world)?

Most likely it is because Trudeau refuses to be bullied.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Not just Melania

This was from 2017 I believe -

(he was also one of the rare ones able to handle the "yanking handshake" that 45 used to do)

[Linda ladeewolf]

7. The tariffs are to benefit

The wealthy. The money taken in by these will probably fund their tax breaks at our expense. This way they don’t even need a tax bill. I don’t know this for a fact, but it seems logical. The trumpers wont care if they think trump is sticking it to someone they feel has wronged them. They’ll be happy with a hundred dollars less of whatever they buy. And as long as the brown people are gone they won’t care about food shortages until it affects them.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. Same here! A POTUS is supposed to work to make life better for the American people, not cause further hardship