Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took parting shots at President Donald Trump on his way out of office.
Trudeau is expected to step down this week once Mark Carney is sworn in as prime minister after winning the Liberal Party’s race for a new leader. Trudeau announced his resignation in January in the face of deep unpopularity.
Speaking to members of the Liberal Party on Sunday, Trudeau took swipes at Trump’s trade war, annexation talk, and his administration’s policies to dismantle the promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“As Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge, an economic crisis, Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of,” Trudeau said. “Canadians are showing what it is that makes us Canadians—not by defining ourselves by who we’re not but by proudly embracing who we are.”
“We’re a country that celebrates the right of each and every person to be who they want to be, to pray as they pray, and love who they love,” he added. “We’re a country that will always defend a woman’s right to choose. We’re a country that will be diplomatic when we can but fight when we must, elbows up.”
Tensions between Canada and the U.S. have heated up since Trump took office and imposed sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods, prompting Trudeau to clap back with tariffs on products made in the U.S.
Trump has also repeatedly expressed a desire to annex Canada as the 51st U.S. state, which Trudeau shut down by asking a trade of American states for Canadian territory.
It’s not just politicos who are in a standoff. American and Canadian sports fans have also been booing each other’s national anthems before games as the relationship between the two nations continues to get icy.
