Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is sounding the alarm about the unintended consequences of American tariff policy, warning that Donald Trump's aggressive duties on Canadian automakers are forcing the country into the arms of Beijing.
Speaking at a major business conference in Singapore on Thursday, Trudeau painted a cautionary tale about what happens when powerful nations use economic coercion against allies—a lesson he says Canada learned the hard way during the Bombardier aerospace crisis nearly a decade ago.
The Bombardier Playbook
When Montreal-based Bombardier began producing its groundbreaking C-Series commercial jets, both Boeing and Airbus saw a competitive threat. According to Trudeau, the two aviation giants pulled out all the stops to tank Bombardier's sales, aggressively warning potential customers not to purchase the Canadian aircraft.
"They were talking to all their customers, 'Don't you dare put in an order for the C-Series! Don't you dare, don't you dare!'" Trudeau recounted. "And finally, Bombardier started really struggling."
That's when China entered the picture—with what Trudeau described colourfully as "a dump truck full of money."
The situation became so dire that Trudeau raised it directly with Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the 2017 G7 summit in Italy. Following those discussions, Airbus began purchasing Bombardier's C-Series jets, effectively resolving the crisis and keeping a major Canadian industrial asset out of Chinese hands.
History Repeating Itself
Trudeau argues the auto sector is now following the same dangerous pattern. With Trump imposing punishing tariffs on Canadian automakers in 2025, Ottawa has been forced to explore closer economic ties with China—a move that would have been unthinkable just years earlier.
In January, Prime Minister Mark Carney negotiated a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping that reduced tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles from standard rates to just 6.1 per cent, allowing up to 49,000 Chinese EVs into Canada annually in exchange for tariff relief on Canadian agricultural exports.
"We're seeing a similar thing happen right now with President Trump. Threatening the Canadian auto industry, where we're now having to look at working with China because the American industry doesn't want to work with us anymore," Trudeau said.
The irony, Trudeau suggests, is stark: American protectionism, intended to shield domestic manufacturers, is actually pushing Canada—a close ally and fellow democracy—into partnership with an authoritarian state that doesn't share North American values.
The Broader Message
Trudeau's remarks underscore a fundamental tension in continental trade policy. When nations that should be natural partners resort to aggressive economic warfare, it creates a vacuum that adversaries are quick to fill. Canada, caught between American tariff threats and the need to protect its auto sector, finds itself with few palatable options.
It's a cautionary tale about how short-term protectionist thinking can have long-term strategic consequences—and one that policymakers in both Canada and the United States may need to reckon with as trade tensions continue to escalate.
This story is based on reporting from Global News. Read the original article at Global News.