Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that the country will respond strongly if United States President Donald Trump moves forward with his plan to impose tariffs. He said that Ottawa is willing to inflict ‘economic pain on the US to get Trump to back down’.

CBC News reported that Trudeau has promised that his country would respond with “robust, rapid” and “very strong” retaliatory measures.

This warning comes after Trump announced that his administration is planning to impose 25 per cent tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada from February 1. In his inaugural address, Trump said, “Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens.”

“We are thinking in terms of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada because they’re allowing vast numbers of people … to come in, and fentanyl to come in,” Trump said on Monday.

When asked about the timeline, he said, “I think we’ll do it February 1.”

What Did He Say About Trump Administration?

Trudeau was speaking at a special cabinet meeting in Montebello, Quebec. He said that he was unfazed by Trump’s about-face, saying he’s come to expect a great deal of “uncertainty” when dealing with this president. “We know that there is always going to be a certain amount of unpredictability and rhetoric coming out from this administration,” added Trudeau.

He further said that Trump is a skilled negotiator and he will “do what he can to keep his negotiating partners a little off balance.”

However, he made it clear that Canada is a good negotiator, too, Trudeau said, and it’s willing to inflict economic pain on the US to get Trump to back down.

Trudeau clarifies that Canada’s main goal is to avoid the proposed US tariffs and foster “a very positive relationship with the United States.