Canadian lawmaker to Trump: Economy 'smarter than your stupidity right now'

Canadian lawmaker Charlie Angus hammered President Trump’s wide-ranging tariff agenda, arguing the economy is “bigger and broader and smarter than your stupidity right now” and that Ottawa will keep pushing back.

Angus, a Parliament member in the New Democratic Party, said Canada is open to normalizing trade relations with the U.S., but the tariffs have to be rescinded first.

“We want to go back to working with the communities on the other side of the border that we've worked with for generations, who are our friends, who are our neighbors, but if you're going to make them our enemy, well, Donald, we're going to fight you the whole way, and you're going to lose,” Angus said during his Monday appearance on MeidasTouch Network.

“You can’t keep control of your economy as it is, Donald,” Angus told host Ben Meiselas. “It’s starting to turn into a total circus. You got to understand, Donald, that the economy is something bigger and broader and smarter than your stupidity right now.”

Trump has escalated his tariff war in recent weeks. He imposed a 25 percent tariff on all aluminum and steel imports. The president also slapped a 25 percent tariff on other goods coming from Canada and Mexico with some exceptions. Both countries, along with China, are the U.S.'s largest trade partners.

The commander in chief has also continued his rhetoric calling for Canada to be the U.S.’s 51st state. Both the heightened import tax and rhetoric have enraged Canadians, some of whom have started boycotting U.S. goods.

“I've been talking to a lot of people who are deeply uncertain, but what I also get is the sense of rage that Donald Trump is trying to rip this up and trying to divide communities that you know from my regions, like London, Oshawa, Windsor, that have been tied to Detroit, to Lansing, to Toledo,” Angus said. “There's a real anger right now.”

Angus previously slammed Trump for suggesting that Canada should join the U.S. as its 51st state, arguing “the issue is that Donald Trump is claiming Canada is a narco-state. The man’s a liar.”

“We would do that to avoid a trade war,” Angus said last month. “We’re reasonable as Canadians, but when you have somebody threatening our sovereignty, well, we’re hunkering down for a fight here.”

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