New Delhi: Canadian politician Jagmeet Singh, known for his support to Sikh separatists, has urged his former ally Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare that Donald Trump’s proposed across-the-board tariffs on all imported goods was “wrong”.
Singh told reporters that the US president-elect’s plans were going to hurt the people. “I think about all the people who can be hurt, I think about Ukraine and the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine. I think about Gaza… I am deeply worried about what this means across the world,” he said.
Singh added: “Well I expect that the Prime Minister will come out and state clearly that Donald Trump’s plans are wrong. The fact that he has proposed an across the board tariff is wrong. That is going to jack up the price of everything. It is going to hurt workers in Canada and in the US.”
Singh withdrew support to Trudeau’s minority government this September, accusing the government of not delivering on its promises.
How US tariff can hurt Canada
Trump has on the campaign trail proposed a 10 percent tariff on goods from Canada. According to reports, this would cut Canada’s real income by almost one percentage point, given that 75 percent of the country’s exports go to the US.
The 78-year-old has had a frosty relationship with the Canadian government, from railing against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during his first bid for the White House, to forcing its renegotiation with US, Mexico and Canada (USMCA) in 2018. Trump has called Trudeau a “far-left lunatic” in the past.
In 2018, the G7 summit hosted by Canada ended in acrimony after Trump abandoned the joint statement and walked out of the summit over differences on tariffs. The summit was also famous for the photograph of a seated Trump with folded hands surrounded by the G7 leaders, including Angela Merkel of Germany, Emmanuel Macron of France and the late Shinzo Abe of Japan, attempting to talk to the US president.
Singh further added that Canadians woke up “worried” over Trump’s economic plans, especially after the next US president has promised to begin renegotiations of the USMCA in 2026, stating that he would have a “lot of fun” with it.
The New Democratic Party leader also attacked Israel in his statement, pointing out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been emboldened by the current US administration to carry out a “campaign of violence and genocide” against the people of Gaza, warning that a Trump presidency could mean worse for the people in the strip.
“I am not looking forward to that (Trump’s presidency). I think it is going to be really problematic. There are a lot of really challenging and problematic things that Trump has said, things that are going to cause deep, deep fears for people around the world and here in Canada as well,” said Singh.
Trump, who beat Democrat and sitting vice-president Kamala Harris, is set to assume the US presidency in January 2025 for his second and last four-year term.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)