Mexico Trumps Trudeau on Trump's Trade Talks

Trump silent on talk with Trudeau, but gives kudos to Mexican president

So by now everyone has heard that Trump issued some pretty stern warnings to both Canada and Mexico when it comes to trade, tariffs, drug smuggling and borders and border security.

Trump, love him or hate him, has never been one to mince words. And his message was loud and clear to both countries. Fix the border, border security, fix your drug problems and fix illegal immigration. And oh, by the way, get that NATO contribution up to the 2 percent he asked Canada to do last time he was the US President.

There has been an awful lot of pundits weighing in on this. Many think it is a bluff, others predict how devastating it would be for Canada and the Canadian economy, while some think that Canada has the wherewithal to strike back with its own tariffs. I am not going to comment on any of that because it is all speculation and I am not an economist or a trade expert.

But, judging from the brief presser Trudeau did with the media following the phone call he had with President-elect Trump, I must say the Prime Minister looked a little shell-shocked. While he tried to maintain that thin veneer of cocky bravado he always tries to project, his body language and even his manner of speaking gave all indications that the call had not gone as ‘good’ as he wanted the media or Canadians to believe.

Trump and Trudeau have always had a rocky relationship, given that Trudeau has made some missteps in criticizing and even trying to ridicule Trump publicly. So it is doubtful that things have changed much and screen captures from the Trudeau’s post phone call media interview do not denote a man who is as confident and self-assured about that call as he claims to be.

And there is another telling indication of just how that phone call went. After Trump’s phone call with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo he posted on his Truth Social app and on X that his call with her went well and he was pleased with the commitments she had made to him regarding the US/Mexican border.

No such posts were forthcoming from President Trump following his phone call with Trudeau. From my perspective that silence speaks volumes in terms of how that call actually went. And then there were these headlines in the press, but nothing along the same lines for Trudeau.

Last week Justin Trudeau made other headlines as he danced with teenyboppers at a Taylor Swift concert in Toronto, as riots by pro-Palestinian-Hamas and ANTIFA thugs broke out in Montreal at the NATO summit being held there attended by some 300 international delegates. Rioters stormed the streets setting off smoke bombs, assaulting police, throwing barriers at cops, torching cars and smashing windows in the building where the meeting was taking place, and surrounding business.

Trudeau made national and international news with headlines accusing him of dancing while Montreal burned. Given his inaction on Trump’s threat, and Trump’s silence on his call with Trudeau, as opposed to his call the Mexican president, some might say Trudeau is still dancing — or rather tap dancing — while Canada gets burned. There’s a new sheriff in town south of the border who is saying its time for Canada and Mexico to put up or shut up when it comes to border security and illegal immigration. It seems for now only Mexico has put up.