TARIFF TROUBLE

Canadian Senator Challenges Don Jr. to a Fight: ‘100% Serious’

Patrick Brazeau said he was throwing down the gauntlet over President Trump’s “bogus tariffs.”

A Canadian politician appears to have taken Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s fighting talk literally, saying he wants to throw down with Donald Trump Jr. Sen. Patrick Brazeau, of Quebec, challenged President Trump’s son to a boxing match for charity in a post on X. He did so to express his chagrin with the U.S.-Canada trade war, he said. “In light of these bogus tariffs … I challenge you to a fight to raise money for cancer research or an organization of your choosing,” the 50-year-old wrote Thursday. He later told CBC News he was “100 percent serious” and said the bout could even take place on U.S. soil. “Our countries don’t need to be at war but we can fight to raise money,” he added. Brazeau’s challenge, which Don Jr. has yet to publicly acknowledge, comes over a decade since the senator fought Trudeau in a similar charity match in 2012. Trudeau has himself been using pugilistic language since imposing retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. earlier this week, saying: “We are Canadians. We are going to fight and we are going to win.” He repeated the word “fight” several times throughout a press conference on March 4. “Canadians are reasonable, and we are polite, but we will not back down from a fight,” he said, kicking off the punchy address to reporters.