Canadian parties unanimously denounce US tariffs

While Canada initially had been strongly protectionist in trade as the country was initially created in order to prevent economic domination by the United States and secure stronger ties with Britain as part of the British Empire, seeking to reduce protectionist trade barriers developed in Canada, especially with Western provinces of Canada demanding free trade with the United States as there North-South trade was less expensive than East-West trade with the the most populated provinces of Canada in the East - Ontario and Quebec. With the two World Wars increased integration of the Canadian and American economies took place. Up until the 1980s the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada had been the more protectionist party in Canadian politics while the Liberal Party had been the most pro-free trade, however the Canadian Prime Minister and Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney upon reading the recommendations of the MacDonald Commission initiated by the former Liberal government decided to pursue its recommendation of a comprehensive free trade agreement with the US and did so in 1989 with American President Ronald Reagan. Later this was replaced by NAFTA. While these agreements have met significant criticism with calls for significant redesigning of the agreement by the NDP, all the Canadian political parties recognize that some form of trade agreement with the US is preferable over trade wars.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to avoid a trade war with the US since the Trump Administration began and sent former Prime Minister Mulroney to meet with Trump to which Mulroney sought to convince Trump that a number of his claims about Canada involving free trade were mistaken, however it is clear now that the attempt to convince Trump not to engage in a trade war has failed. Mulroney has expressed his astonishment at the vicious rhetoric used by American officials towards a Canadian Prime Minister over the trade disputes since Canada has been a close military ally of the United States for over a century, "I’ve never seen language like this, least of all from subordinates of the President directed at the Prime Minister of their greatest friend and ally". Also Trudeau's former rival former Prime Minister Stephen Harper who led the Conservative federal government of 2006-15 has criticized Trump's threatening of a trade war, saying "Us fighting over our trade relationship when the Chinese have a four-to-one imbalance with both of us is, in my judgment, just the wrong priority."

The Canadian government has also secured the support of the Premiers in opposing the US tariffs - the Premiers are the heads of government of the provinces of Canada; recently elected Ontario Premier Doug Ford representing Canada's most populated province Ontario has decided to support Trudeau's federal government against the US tariffs, Ford's party the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario is closely affiliated with the Conservative Party of Canada - Prime Minister Trudeau's main rival in the House of Commons. For film of Ford declaring his intention to have the Ontario government work with the Canadian federal government to challenge the US tariffs, see here: www.theglobeandmail.com/canada…

NDP MP Charlie Angus in the House of Commons responded to Trump's actions against Canada by calling Trump a “small-minded man not fit for public office. Canada will not be pushed around by his circus-thug bluster.”