U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a joint press conference with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the East Room at the White House on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP

By Canadian Press

TRADE TENSIONS

Trump calls Freeland ‘a whack’ and Poilievre ‘not a MAGA guy’ as tariff threat looms

Feb 28, 2025 | 10:57 AM

U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in this week on domestic Canadian politics, firing insults at Chrystia Freeland and claiming Pierre Poilievre is not a “MAGA guy” as his deadline to impose steep tariffs on Canada inches closer.

In an interview with The Spectator, Trump called the Liberal leadership candidate terrible and “a whack” and claimed credit for Freeland’s resignation as finance minister.

“Governor Trudeau understood that. And he actually fired her because of a meeting he had with me. I said, ‘She is so bad. She’s bad for the country,'” Trump said in an edited transcript of a Thursday interview with the magazine.

Freeland resigned from cabinet in December — a move which ultimately led Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to announce he was stepping down as leader.

The president met Freeland in his first administration during negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. Freeland, who played a key role in crafting the continental trade pact to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, often tells the story about how Trump called her a “killer.”

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Experts have said that Trump’s ongoing tariff threats are an effort to rattle Mexico and Canada ahead of a mandatory review of the trilateral agreement.

Trump’s executive order to implement 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican imports, with a lower 10 per cent levy on energy, was delayed until March 4 after both countries agreed to introduce new security measures at the border.

Trump said Thursday he hadn’t seen any progress from Canada and Mexico and the levies would go ahead.

The wide-ranging interview, published on Friday, did not include comments on Freeland’s rivals for Liberal leadership. Advance voting in the leadership race began on Wednesday ahead of the March 9 vote to select Trudeau’s successor.

The president was asked about the Conservatives’ drop in the polls since Trump began making repeated jabs at Canada.

Trump said that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s “biggest problem is he’s not a MAGA guy.” Trump also complained that Poilievre is “not positive about me.”

“I don’t know. I mean, I can’t tell you, Pierre. I just don’t know. I don’t like what he’s saying about me. It’s just not positive about me. And we’ve done a great job,” Trump said.

Asked about Trump’s comments Friday, Conservative ethics critic Michael Barrett said Conservatives are focused on what’s best for Canadians.

“We are not worried about comments of people in other countries,” he said.

Trump’s latest comments come as Canadian officials pursue a last-ditch diplomatic effort in Washington to head off the tariffs. Public Safety Minister David McGuinty and newly appointed “fentanyl czar” Kevin Brosseau were joined by Canadian law enforcement and border officials in the U.S. capital this week for meetings with lawmakers and members of Trump’s team.

McGuinty said Thursday that “any test that was put on this country, on Canada, in terms of showing progress and meeting standards for the border — I believe those have been met.”

The president initially tied the tariffs to the flow of deadly fentanyl but said the pause would allow time to reach a “final economic deal.” It remains unclear what he wants to see from Canada.

“It would just be nice to know what America wants ,” said Jamie Tronnes of the Center for North American Prosperity and Security, a project of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.

Speaking during a panel at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Friday, Tronnes said the Trump administration has given Canada nothing concrete to work on.

The targets of Trump’s complaints about Canada have ranged from defence spending to trade deficits. He has claimed repeatedly that Canada should become a U.S. state.

Tronnes said that if security is the issue, there is no “secure North America if you impoverish Canada.”

Derek Scissors, a senior fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, said there is no strategy behind America’s current trade policies. Unless a stock market reaction forces the president to change course, he said, America and Canada may have to suffer the economic pain of these tariffs for a while.

“I think it’s up in the air whether U.S. trade policy makes any sense,” Scissors said.

Trump returned to the Oval Office in January with an aggressive tariff agenda targeting countries around the world.

He signed an executive order for 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States starting March 12. Another order will implement “reciprocal tariffs” on April 2.

Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to look at a levy on copper and has suggested tariffs on automobiles and forest products could land in April.