section_path: Prime Minister of Canada (2015–2025)/Foreign policy
section_name: Foreign policy
paragraph_text: Foreign policy
  
  In 2015, Trudeau told the New York Times Magazine that Canada could be the "first postnational state".
  
  Trudeau enjoyed good relations with the "like-minded" United States president Barack Obama, despite Trudeau's support for the Keystone Pipeline, which was rejected by the Democratic president. Trudeau's first foreign policy challenges included follow-through on his campaign promise to withdraw Canadian air support from the Syrian civil war and to welcome 25,000 Syrian war refugees.
  
  In 2016, Trudeau lifted visa requirements for Mexican citizens. Asylum claims by Mexicans grew from 110 in 2015 to 24,000 in 2023. Visas and some restrictions were reinstated in 2024.
  
  In January 2017, Trudeau wrote, "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada," on Twitter. As a result, irregular border crossing increased, mainly at Roxham Road. Increased strain on services in Quebec and Ontario, and criticism over the unsustainable influx of claimants, appeared to influence the decision to close Roxham Road in March 2023; however, the new terms of the Canada–United States Safe Third Country Agreement (STCA) had been arranged the previous year. After irregular border crossings were shut down, asylum claims surged at airports.
  
  When Donald Trump became president in 2017, Canada-US relations deteriorated. The Trump administration forced the renegotiation of NAFTA to create the CUSMA, in which Canada made significant concessions in allowing increased imports of American milk, weakening Canada's dairy supply management system. Donald Trump also implemented tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, to which Trudeau retaliated by imposing tariffs on American steel, aluminum and a variety of other American products.
  
  Canada's relationship with China also deteriorated during Trudeau's time as prime minister. The turmoil led to the arrest of Meng Wanzhou at the Vancouver International Airport in December 2018 at the behest of the United States, and the arrest of Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig in China 12 days later. Trudeau appointed Liberal advisor, Dominic Barton (McKinsey & Company, Century Initiative) ambassador to China in 2019. While Barton negotiated the release of Spavor and Kovrig, Canada-China trade reached historic highs. Barton resigned in December 2021, "amidst growing pressure from...President Joe Biden for Ottawa to take a tougher stance with Beijing." As Wanzhou, Spavor and Kovrig were released at the exact same time in September 2021, many observers speculated they were exchanged as part of a deal between the United States and China. Trudeau greeted Spavor and Kovrig at the airport upon their repatriation. In 2024, Spavor was awarded $7 million in compensation for his arrest and detainment. Although Trudeau repeatedly claimed the two were arbitrarily targeted, it was later reported Spavor had unwittingly participated in espionage by sharing information on North Korea with Kovrig who then passed it onto the Canadian government.
  
  In a similar fashion, Canada's relationship with Saudi Arabia was also put under strain, as human rights groups called on Trudeau to stop selling military equipment to that country under a deal struck by the Harper government. In 2018, Saudi Arabia recalled its Canadian ambassador and froze trade with the country in response to Canada's call for the Saudis to release opposition blogger Raif Badawi. However, in 2019, Canada doubled its weapons sales to Saudi Arabia, despite a "moratorium on export permits following the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and mounting civilian deaths from the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen."
  
  In 2020, Canada lost its bid to join the United Nations Security Council. This was the second time Canada had failed an attempt to join the Security Council, the first time being in 2009 under Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
  
  In September 2023, Trudeau said that the government of Canada had "credible intelligence" that the government of India was involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, outside a Sikh gurdwara in Surrey. This episode triggered the Canada–India diplomatic row.
  
  On October 7, 2023, Trudeau condemned the Hamas -led surprise attack on Israel, which devolved into the Gaza war, and expressed his support to Israel and its right to self-defence. On October 24, he rejected calls for a ceasefire but said he supported "humanitarian pauses" to deliver aid to the people of the Gaza Strip. On December 12, in a joint statement with the Prime Minister of Australia and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Trudeau called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in the war. Trudeau neither endorsed nor rejected South Africa's genocide case against Israel.
  
  Following Donald Trump's second inauguration in January 2025, Canada-US relations again deteriorated. On March 4, 2025, President Trump imposed 25% tariffs on Canadian exports, 10% tariffs on Canadian energy products, with an exemption for the automotive industry set to expire on April 2. In retaliation, Trudeau announced countermeasures, with Canada imposing 25% tariffs on $30 billion worth of U.S. goods, effective March 5, 2025. These retaliatory tariffs were set to increase to $155 billion worth of U.S. products within 21 days and would remain in place until the U.S. trade actions were withdrawn.
  
  On March 8, while giving a speech at the National Forum on Combatting Antisemitism, Trudeau identified himself as a Zionist.