Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Trudeau said, "The US has a $400m dairy surplus with Canada so it's not Canada that is the challenge here."

"Let's not pretend that we are in a global free market when it comes to agriculture. Every country protects, for good reason, its agricultural industry," he said.

Trump vowed to "stand up for US dairy farmers"

Trudeau's comments come after Donald Trump slammed Canada for its dairy policy, which places high tariffs on imported products, as well as a milk quota to limit production to maintain higher milk prices for their farmers.

"It’s another typical one-sided deal against the United States and it’s not going to be happening for long. We’re going to stand up for our dairy farmers because in Canada some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others," the US President said.

Other countries subsidise

Justin Trudeau backed Canada's supply management system and said other countries, including America, "choose to subsidise to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions, their agricultural industry including their dairy".

"We are not going to overreact. We are going to engage in a thoughtful, fact-based conversation on how to move forward in a way that both protects our consumers and our agricultural producers," Trudeau said.

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Trump slams Canada’s protectionist milk policy