People have always wondered what it is about now former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Donald Trump just cannot stand. His politics aren’t demonstrably different from any other center-left leader Trump has dealt with around the world and the US Canadian relationship until now had been the most congenial, peaceful, cooperative relationship in the history of both countries. I happen to think it’s personal, as is so much of Trump’s behavior toward his global counterparts.
Just as he admires Russian President Vladimir Putin for his strongman image or North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for his (plainly insincere) obsequiousness, he likewise loathed German Chancellor Angela Merkel for being a plain, dumpy woman and currently hates Volodymyr Zelensky for being in his mind, the instrument of the humiliation of his first impeachment. With Trudeau I think it’s always been simple, juvenile jealousy of his youthful good looks. Trump is not a complicated man when it comes to his judgments of other people. He is, after all, a person who commonly hires people because they are “out of central casting.”
During Trump’s first term his antipathy for Trudeau was evident from the start and it began with one of Trump’s famous handshakes. He likes to try to dominate his peers by violently yanking their hands toward him and it often makes for bizarre awkward situations. But a couple of weeks after his inauguration, during the traditional visit between tour two leaders, Trudeau resisted the “yank” at the White House door and then hesitated before taking Trump’s weird palms-up outstretched hand in the oval office. The picture went viral.
The BBC even published a long disquisition on English physician John Bulwer’s 1644 “eccentric tome Chirologia: Or the Naturall Language of the Hand, Composed of the Speaking Motions, and Discoursing Gestures Thereof.” to explain what had happened. (It said Trudeau’s hand position wasn’t disdainful but rather dejected while there was no explanation for Trump’s odd gesture at all.)
It also didn’t help that when Trump brought in Trudeau to a meeting with businesswomen, including his daughter Ivanka, the swoon was heard around the world. Trump clearly believed, and still does, that he was the leader with the movie star good looks and he didn’t like it one bit.
From that point on, Canada was in Trump’s cross hairs and he refused to meet with Trudeau at various meetings or shake his hand and he constantly threatened to throw tariffs on everything whenever he felt he was being disrespected. They did finally agree on an update of the NAFTA treaty which Trump had characterized during his campaign as screwing the U.S. (It did, but not in the way Trump said it did.) In the end they basically just ended up tweaking it so that he could strut around like a hero.
I suspect that the straw that broke the camel’s back was this moment caught on tape at that G7 where Trump absurdly announced that it had been decided that the very best location for the next meeting, scheduled to be held in the U.S., would be his Doral Golf Club in Florida.
.@JustinTrudeau, @EmmanuelMacron, @BorisJohnson and other VIPs shared a few words at a Buckingham Palace reception Tuesday. No one mentions @realDonaldTrump by name, but they seem to be discussing his lengthy impromptu press conferences from earlier in the day. (Video: Host Pool) pic.twitter.com/dVgj48rpOP
— Power & Politics (@PnPCBC) December 3, 2019
Considering all that, I suppose it’s not a big surprise that Trump would still be holding a grudge and would give Trudeau a hard time when he became president again. But never did anyone imagine that he would launch a full scale rhetorical assault on Canada itself, insult its people and proclaim that he wants to annex the country and make it America’s 51st state,
Trump had said he planned to throw huge tariffs on Mexico and Canada during the campaign but nobody knew if it was just the usual Trump bluster or if he meant it. He went forward with them as promised and since then has gone back and forth so often that nobody knows what he’s really after.
It’s obvious that his deep antipathy toward Mexico stems from immigration and his belief that it is just another sh**hole country. He is sending combat troops to the border and has previously entertained plans to invade the country ostensibly to “take out” the drug cartels. As grotesque as it is, it isn’t exactly a surprise. But this ongoing threat to make Canada the 51st state, even repeatedly calling Trudeau “governor” is entirely unexpected.
According to the NY Times, what they first considered a typical Trump insult joke is now being taken very seriously by the Canadian government. They report that the phone calls between Trudeau and Trump as well the trade talks between the two countries are extremely acrimonious, beyond anything previously experienced. Trump has even said explicitly that he does not believe that he doesn’t believe that the treaty that officially declared the borders between the two countries is valid and he intends to change them.
The Times writes:
“The excuse that he’s giving for these tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false,” Mr. Trudeau told the news media in Ottawa. “What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” he added.
They seem to think he means it.
Yesterday Justin Trudeau stepped down as Prime Minister after 10 years as he had promised to do. He was very unpopular over the past year and his Liberal party was expected to lose to the conservatives in the next election. That is, until Trump started talking about making Canada into the 51st state and Trudeau started telling it like it is. The Liberals have surged in the polls and will probably call elections very soon to take advantage of it. The people of Canada, across the political board, are infuriated by Trump’s audacious threats and they are not in any mood to cater to his insane impulses regardless of his tariff threats. Even those who were supportive of him have changed their tunes:
The Liberal party elected former central banker Mark Carney as the new Prime Minister and should they win the elections he will be the one to deal with Trump’s antics going forward. Luckily, although he is a nice looking fellow, he isn’t likely to inspire the extreme jealousy Trudeau inspired in Trump. But if Trump thinks that he will kow-tow to him, he may have another thing coming. His acceptance speech was a barnburner. Among other things, he said:
“My gov will create new trading relationships with reliable partners”
“My gov will keep tariffs on till America shows us respect”
“All the proceeds from our tariffs will be used to protect our workers”
“Canada will never ever be part of America in any way shape or form”
“Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us to divide and conquer”
“We can give ourselves far far more than Donald Trump can ever take away”
As I write this Trump has not written anything on Truth Social or offered a statement. If he expected that Trudeau’s replacement was going to come crawling for forgiveness it appears that he was wrong.
Don’t know anything about the new Canadian interim PM Mark Carney but I like what he’s saying here:
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) March 10, 2025
"A person who worships at the alter of Donald Trump will kneel before him, not stand up to him" pic.twitter.com/kzrUOG29DL
The Republican Party and the vast majority of American elites have certainly been a perfect illustration of that. It’s a shame that Americans have to look to our neighbor to the north for inspiration but we’re grateful for it.
BTW: Eat your heart out Trump. He’s still 25 years younger than you are
Salon