OTTAWA — Canadians do not want to engage in a trade war with the United States, but they will be “equally unequivocal” in their response if the U.S. enacts its threats of tariffs in the coming weeks, said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday.

“I think it’s important to understand that Canada will respond as appropriate in a calibrated but extremely strong way, regardless of what the U.S. moves forward with,” said Trudeau, who was holding meetings in Brussels to discuss trade and defence spending.