Trump accuses Canada’s Trudeau of using tariffs dispute to ‘stay in power’

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump accused Canadian leader Justin Trudeau of playing up a Canada-US trade war to cling to power, after they spoke in a “somewhat friendly” call on March 5.

Mr Trump said in a social media post that Prime Minister Trudeau “was unable to tell me when the Canadian election is taking place, which made me curious, like, what’s going on here? I then realised he is trying to use this issue to stay in power.”

Mr Trudeau, who

announced his resignation

in January, is to step down after a Liberal party leadership contest this weekend chooses his replacement.

That person will then also become prime minister, and have the power to call the next federal election, which must be held no later than October – though political analysts have said it could come earlier.

Canadian prime ministers can call elections at any point in the government’s five-year term.

Mr Trudeau and Mr Trump have had a fractious relationship since Mr Trump’s return to the White House in January, as the pair sparred over trade and fentanyl trafficking.

A frustrated Mr Trudeau said on March 4, after Mr Trump moved ahead with

imposing 25 per cent tariffs

on Canadian imports into the United States, that while he thinks Mr Trump is a “smart guy”, the tariffs are

a “very dumb thing to do.”

He also accused Mr Trump of seeking to collapse the Canadian economy to make the country easier to annex.

Mr Trump has spoken several times of making Canada the 51st American state.

The Republican leader’s trade attacks have also been coupled with a particular animosity against the man he calls “Governor Trudeau”. AFP