Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) on Monday said Trump’s ongoing conflict with Canada and other Group of Seven (G-7) nations is like a “fight with your spouse.”
“Have you ever had a fight with your spouse? And in that you just make the decision, OK things were said that we wish were not but there’s an underlying issue that has to be addressed,” Cassidy told CNN’s “New Day.”
“Now you put this aside and hope it never happens again but you begin to address the issue. I think we as a western alliance need to address the issue,” he added.
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President Trump butted heads with Canada and other G-7 nations over the weekend when he refused to sign the communique all other G-7 nations had agreed to sign and by attacking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for what Trump called “false statements.”
“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.
Shortly before Trump’s tweet, Trudeau had announced that all G-7 nations had agreed to sign the joint communique.
Tensions have been high with Canada after Trump implemented a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imported from, among other allies, Canada. Trump cited Section 232 — a rarely invoked law that allows tariffs to be placed on a country in the interest of national security — to justify the action.
Cassidy noted that Canada was not a national security threat but said the recently implemented tariffs were based on the “fact that American workers have been disadvantaged.”
Trudeau has called the idea that Canada was a national security threat “insulting and unacceptable.”