CBC – U.S. President Donald Trump’s war of words with Canada continued Wednesday as he veered off a prepared script at an event marking Hispanic Heritage Month in the States to chastise Canadian leaders for being what he called “very bad.”
Speaking at the White House, Trump said the U.S. was “stupidly run” before he got the job because past leaders allowed automakers to move assembly plants offshore, including to Canada.
Canada has had a large-scale domestic auto manufacturing industry since 1904, developing at roughly the same time as the one in the U.S.
Still, Trump said past presidents “allowed other countries to make our cars and sell them to us,” and he is ending that now with his high-tariff regime. The Trump administration has repeatedly made it clear that it wants to hollow out Canada’s auto industry.
“Canada has taken advantage of us for so many years. The worst of any country,” Trump said.
“I love the Canadian people, but the leaders have taken advantage of our stupid leadership for many, many years. They felt emboldened. … They act like they’re totally innocent. They’re not. They were very bad. But now they’re being taught a little lesson.”
One of those “lessons,” as the president described it, was his unilateral move to rename Lake Ontario in the U.S.
Addressing a largely Hispanic audience, Trump said his move to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America was “even cooler.”
“There could be a few people in the room that don’t love that one,” he said.