Americans face a tough choice in fall election as polarization becomes more profound, says Justin Trudeau

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November’s U.S. presidential election will be a choice between progress and democracy or anger and conspiracy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told business leaders in Montreal.

Americans will have to decide whether they want to continue being a country that is optimistic and engaged, Mr. Trudeau said Tuesday at a gathering of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.

“Or will they choose a retreat, a nostalgia for an era that never existed, and a populism that reflects a lot of anxiety and rage that people are going through without necessarily offering solutions?”

Polarization in the United States and Europe is becoming more profound “as we see democracy slipping, a decline in democratic values around the world on many levels,” Mr. Trudeau said. “We must remember that democracy is not automatic. It must be preserved. It must be defended.”

The Prime Minister was responding to a question from Michel Leblanc, chamber president and CEO, about dealing with Donald Trump.

Mr. Trudeau acknowledged it was a challenge to work with Mr. Trump, who was in office from 2017 to 2021, noting that the former president wanted to eliminate supply management and tear up the North American free-trade agreement.

“It wasn’t easy the first time, I’ll tell you. And if there is a second time, it won’t be easy either. But let’s not imagine that one day it will be easy with the Americans,” Mr. Trudeau said, speaking in French.

Nevertheless, he added, it is the responsibility of any prime minister to demonstrate and deal with Canadian interests vis-à-vis American ones.

“It’s always a big challenge to work with any American president,” he said, including Barack Obama and incumbent Joe Biden, with whom he said he has “a lot of chemistry.” As an example, he referred to differences he had with Mr. Biden over electric vehicles.

Canada and the U.S. were at odds in 2021 over policies of the Biden administration that would have given purchasers a tax credit for electric vehicles made in the U.S., but not Canada. The issue was eventually resolved.

“We will be ready for the choices that Americans make in November,” Mr. Trudeau said.

During the Trump era, Mr. Trudeau said he spent his time talking to governors of Republican states to remind them that Canada was a first or second export market for everything they produced.

“We were able to demonstrate to them that yes, I was there to defend Canadian interests, but that creating protectionism or barriers to trade between Canada and the United States would certainly hurt Canada but would also hurt the United States.”

Mr. Trudeau’s office announced later Tuesday that one of the items to be discussed during the next cabinet retreat will be “Canada’s relationship with the United States ahead of this fall’s presidential election.”

The cabinet is meeting in Montreal from Jan. 21 to 23, days before the House of Commons sits for the first time this year on Jan. 29.

Mr. Trudeau made his comments the day after Mr. Trump won the Republican caucuses in Iowa on Monday, securing about 51 per cent of the vote, significantly ahead of rivals Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and former ambassador to the United Nations.

Mr. Trudeau told the Montreal business audience that Canadians have similar choices to those facing American voters.

“Do we advance to defend our democracy, our principles? Do we continue to move to combat climate change? Defend individual rights? Defend minorities? Or do we go backwards because we are so angry with everything that is happening in the world around us?

“That’s a conversation we’re going to have.”

The Prime Minister did not specifically name the federal Conservatives or Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Sam Lilly, a press secretary for the Office of the Leader of the Official Opposition, said in a statement Tuesday that it did not have a comment on Mr. Trudeau’s remarks

Public opinion research by Abacus Data last October suggested that given the choice of Mr. Trudeau and Mr. Poilievre, 37 per cent of respondents thought Mr. Poilievre would best be able to deal with a new Trump presidency, compared with 28 per cent who thought Trudeau would be best. Thirty-five per cent said they did not know.

The conclusion was based on research between Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, with 1,985 adults surveyed on various political and current events issues. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story stated incorrectly that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was answering a question about dealing with Donald Trump that had been posed by from Laurent Ferreira, CEO of the National Bank of Canada. The question was asked by Michel Leblanc, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal. This version has been updated.