Trudeau addresses Trump directly as he rips into his ‘dumb’ tariffs

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a frank message on Tuesday for his counterpart Donald Trump, telling him that the administration’s 25 percent tariffs on its North American neighbors were a “dumb” course of action.

“It’s not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you are a very smart guy, this a very dumb thing to do,” Trudeau said during a press conference in Ottawa, the day Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canada took effect. “We two friends fighting is exactly what our opponents around the world want to see."

The comment was a reference to an editorial on Monday from the financial paper, accusing Trump of taking the “Dumbest Tariff Plunge.”

The conservative-leaning editorial board called the tariffs “the ‘dumbest’ in history,” and added that, “We may have understated the point.”

Trudeau also attempted to remind Trump of their past collaboration on matters like the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade pact, the replacement to NAFTA Trump ushered in during his firm term.

“We should be working together to ensure even great prosperity for North Americans in a very uncertain and challenging world,” Trudeau added.

Financial markets had a similarly dour message for Trump, with major U.S. indices slumping throughout this week on the tariff news.

Individual industries like auto production are expecting major disruptions and price increases for consumers, who ultimately pay for tariffs, despite Trump’s incorrect insistence foreign companies and businesses do.

“You have engines and car seats and other things that cross the border multiple times before going into a finished vehicle,’’ Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, told The Associated Press. “You have American parts going to Mexico to be put into vehicles that are then shipped back to the United States.

“You throw 25 percent tariffs into all that, and it’s just a grenade.’’

The countries impacted by Trump’s tariff regime are all planning retaliatory measures.

Canada is imposing up a 25 percent tariffs on up to $155 billion in U.S. goods over the course of this month, while individual provinces have suggested their own measures, including a threat from Ontario to cut off energy supplies to the U.S. and remove U.S. products from Canadian shelves.

Mexico also plans to hit the U.S. back.

“There is no motive or reason, nor justification that supports this decision that will affect our people and our nations,” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday.

Despite these warnings, the administration has remained upbeat and announced further tariff plans.

“I know people worry about short-term, but we are going to bring jobs. You are never going to see the amount of production...that Donald Trump’s going to bring back to America,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday on CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Trump has said new tariffs will hit agricultural imports early next month, calling on U.S. farmers to ramp up production in anticipation.

“To the Great Farmers of the United States: Get ready to start making a lot of agricultural product to be sold INSIDE of the United States. Tariffs will go on external product on April 2nd. Have fun!” the president wrote on Truth Social on Monday.