Cabinet is not “panicking” over threats of a winter tariff war with the United States, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said yesterday. Opponents dismissed Trudeau as too weak and distracted to stare down a 25 percent American tariff on billions’ worth of Canadian exports.

“Rather than panicking we are engaging in constructive ways to protect Canadian jobs like we have before,” Trudeau told the Commons. “I don’t think the idea of going to war with the United States is what anyone wants.”

Donald Trump on Monday threatened to enact a January 20 Executive Order to make Canada and Mexico pay “a very big price” for drug smuggling and illegal immigration to the U.S. “As one of my first Executive Orders I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25 percent tariff on all products coming into the United States and its ridiculous open borders,” wrote Trump.

Canadian exports to the U.S. la