in World News Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: Justin Trudeau Is a ‘Numbskull’
by Alana Mastrangelo
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “numbskull” on Thursday, in response to Trudeau declaring Canada will continue a “trade war” with United States.
“If you want to be a numbskull like Justin Trudeau and say ‘Oh we’re going to do this’, [respond to U.S. tariffs by raising their own tariffs], then tariffs are going to go up,” Bessent said Thursday before the Economic Club of New York.
“But if you want to sit back, have a discussion with the Commerce Department, USTR, I am happy to have a discussion with our foreign counterparts,” the Treasury Secretary added.
Bessent was responding to remarks Trudeau made that same day, in which the prime minister revealed that Canada will be in a trade war with the U.S. while the country continues corresponding with President Donald Trump’s administration about tariffs.
“I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future,” Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa on Thursday.
Canada recently imposed 25 percent tariffs on C$30 billion of U.S. imports, with Trudeau saying the taxes will not be lifted until the Trump administration ends its measures on trade.
Trump, who says Canada is not doing enough to stop the flow of fentanyl and illegal migrants across the border into the United States, had a nearly hour-long conversation with Trudeau on Wednesday, according to a report by Reuters.