Trudeau says Canada and the U.S. will 'do good things together' with Trump in the White House

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sounded an upbeat note Tuesday on the prospect of working with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, saying Canada has dealt with his trade threats before and can do so again.

Trudeau said Trump's trade rhetoric is mainly focused on China — and Canada already has shown a willingness to move in lockstep with the U.S. against the Chinese when necessary.

Trudeau suggested a coordinated approach to Chinese trade, and measures to tackle its abusive trade practices, could put Canada in Trump's good graces.

Trump has for years accused China of deliberately devaluing its currency and flooding the world with cheap goods made by workers who earn very little, displacing products made in the U.S. and forcing jobs overseas.

"The Trump administration is significantly concerned about international pressures, particularly overcapacity by China and unfair trade practices by China. Canada is aligned with the U.S. already and we're going to be able to do good things together," Trudeau said.

Canada and the U.S. worked together as "friends and partners" in Trump's first term "and we're going to do that again," Trudeau said.

Trudeau's talk of being "aligned" with the Americans is a reference to Canada's decision in August to follow the U.S. in imposing punitive tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles to protect the nascent EV industry here.

As of Oct 1., Canada is levying a 100 per cent surtax on Chinese-made EVs, which effectively doubles the price of those imported vehicles, making them far less attractive to consumers in this country.

A readout from Trudeau's first call with Trump after the election said the two discussed "addressing unfair trading practices in the global economy."

While Canada and the U.S. are aligned on EVs, there could be friction ahead with the third partner in the continental free trade pact: Mexico.

Trump has said he could slap big tariffs on Mexico — he's floated tariffs as high as 200 per cent on vehicles imported from that country — to make it less attractive for automakers to build plants there.

There's been a huge uptick in car manufacturing in Mexico in recent years; most that product is destined for the U.S. Chinese EV maker BYD has been scouting out locations for a Mexican factory that could supply the U.S. market.

"All I'm doing is saying ... I'll put a number where they can't sell one car," Trump said of Mexico in October, referring to threatened tariffs. "I don't want them hurting our car companies."

He's also threatened to impose steep tariffs on Mexico if it doesn't do more to stop the flow of migrants into the U.S.