Trump’s Iowa win draws contrasting reactions from Trudeau and Macron
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Mr Justin Trudeau (right) said it will not be easy dealing with Trump if the latter becomes president again.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
OTTAWA/PARIS - If Republican front runner Donald Trump
Mr Trudeau, whose centre-left Liberals came to power in November 2015, had rocky relations with Trump during his four-year White House term. In 2018, Trump accused Mr Trudeau of being weak and dishonest.
“It wasn’t easy the first time and if there is a second time, it won’t be easy either,” Mr Trudeau said in French during a discussion hosted by the Montreal chamber of commerce.
He added: “But we can’t imagine a day when it will ever be easy with the Americans. The main responsibility for any prime minister is to represent and defend Canada’s interests... We’ve been able to do this very well these past few years.”
Canada sends 75 per cent of its goods and services exports to the United States and is particularly vulnerable to any US shift towards protectionism.
When Trump came to power, he vowed to renegotiate the free trade treaty that bound the US, Canada and Mexico. Ottawa spent almost two years locked in talks to produce a trilateral pact that largely protected Canadian interests.
About two-thirds of Canadians surveyed in January said US democracy cannot survive another four years of Trump in power, and about half said the US is on the way to becoming an authoritarian state, a poll released on Jan 15 found.
A Trump win would be “a step back” and a victory for “a populism that reflects a lot of anguish and fury... without necessarily providing solutions”, Mr Trudeau said.
The Liberals have made fighting climate change a priority and Mr Trudeau said Trump showed little interest in the environment during “the lost four years” of his first term.
“There are clearly issues where I do not agree at all with Mr Trump,” Mr Trudeau said, citing the climate question.
The next Canadian election has to be held by September 2025 and the Liberals are trailing their right-of-centre Conservative rivals.
Mr Trudeau repeated criticism that the opposition party had taken its inspiration from the Trump movement.
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Jan 16 that he would deal with whoever wins the US election.
Trump, who faces a battery of federal and state criminal charges
“I’ve always had the same philosophy – I take the leaders that people give me,” Mr Macron said during a news conference.
Mr Macron had an up-and-down relationship with Trump over the four years they were in power at the same time.
He initially adopted a more conciliatory tone with Trump, whom he called a “friend”, and even invited him to dine at the Eiffel Tower on Bastille Day. But as the years passed, policy decisions on the climate, taxation and Iran in particular caused friction between Trump and his European allies.
Mr Macron once even said his phone calls with Trump and other world leaders were just like sausages: better not to explain what is inside.
“The United States is an important ally... It’s a democracy that’s going through a crisis in which it itself is the first priority and the second priority is China’s power,” Mr Macron said. “All of us Europeans need to be lucid about that.” REUTERS
