Trudeau to Trump: This Is a 'Very Dumb Thing to Do'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau laid into President Trump and the new American tariffs on his nation Tuesday. Trudeau held a news conference in which he took a "position of confrontation rather than acquiescence," per Canada's CTV News. Among other things, he accused Trump of starting a trade war—with Mexico and China, too—that will wind up hurting American families, reports NBC News.

• "Now, it's not in my habit to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Donald, they point out that even though you're a very smart guy, this is a very dumb thing to do," said Trudeau, per the Guardian. "We two friends fighting is exactly what our opponents around the world want to see."
• The editorial: In an editorial on Tuesday about the tariffs, the Journal doubled down on the term: "We've courted Mr. Trump's ire by calling the Mexico and Canada levies the 'dumbest' in history, and we may have understated the point." Trump, it says, "is whacking friends, not adversaries. His taxes will hit every cross-border transaction, and the North American vehicle market is so interconnected that some cars cross a border as many as eight times as they're assembled."

• A dig on Trump-Putin: The White House, said Trudeau, is "talking about working positively with Russia, appeasing Vladimir Putin—a lying, murderous, dictator. Make that make sense. Canadians are reasonable and we are polite. But we will not back down from a fight, not when our country and the well-being of everyone in it is at stake."
• Motive? "What (Trump) wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that will make it easier to annex us, is the second half of his thought," said the prime minister. "Now, first of all, that's never going to happen. We will never be the 51st state, but, yeah, he can do damage to the Canadian economy, and he started this morning."
• Trump responds: As Trudeau readied retaliatory tariffs, Trump took to Truth Social on Tuesday afternoon. "Please explain to Governor Trudeau, of Canada, that when he puts on a Retaliatory Tariff on the U.S., our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount!" he wrote.
• Markets teeter: The Dow was down more than 600 points mid-day, and the tech-centric Nasdaq was on pace to close in correction territory, meaning 10% lower than a recent high, per CNBC.
• The others: Mexico's president also promised retaliation, and China already imposed retaliatory tariffs and restrictions on US businesses.

(This file was updated to include Trump's online post.)