Canadian senator challenges Donald Trump Jr. to a boxing match
Darren Major | CBC News | Posted: March 6, 2025 10:31 PM | Last Updated: March 6
Challenge comes as tariff chaos continues
Sen. Patrick Brazeau wants to punch Donald Trump in the face.
Not the U.S. president, but his son, Donald Trump Jr. The Quebec senator took to social media on Thursday to challenge the younger Trump to a charity boxing match.
"In light of these bogus tariffs … I challenge you to a fight to raise money for cancer research or an organization of your choosing," Brazeau wrote to Trump Jr. on X.
Brazeau told CBC News that his challenge is "100 per cent serious."
"Just looking at everything that has transpired in the last two months, I just was wondering … what could I do?" he said.
"Let's duke it out and let's see how much courage the Trumps and the president's son truly have."
Brazeau said he also considered challenging U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, but ultimately settled on Trump Jr. as a more symbolic stand-in for the president.
"I just wanted to call an American out and it just so happens to be the president's son," he said.
Trump pauses some tariffs
Brazeau's challenge comes at a time when tensions between the two countries are at an all-time high.
Earlier this week, the U.S. president launched a trade war against Canada. But on Thursday he said he is again pausing tariffs on some Canadian goods.
WATCH | Trump delays tariffs on some Canadian goods:
Trump has made numerous complaints about Canada when justifying his tariffs, including that fentanyl is pouring into the U.S. over its northern border.
Brazeau said Trump's aims have more to do with wanting Canada's natural resources.
"I am personally sick and tired of what I'm hearing because all this — this trade war and these tariffs — are not about fentanyl whatsoever," he said.
The U.S. president said he would be pressing ahead with an additional 25 per cent tariff on Canadian steel and aluminum next week.
"They're talking about significant tariffs on our country, which will affect every Canadian citizen's wallet," Brazeau said.
"This is just my way to continue this fight. But not through the trade war and not through the tariffs. Let's just do it the way the Trump family and the Trump people understand … through force."
More than a decade since famous Trudeau fight
Brazeau is no stranger to the squared circle. In 2012, he fought Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a charity match while the latter was still just an MP.
The fight helped propel Trudeau's political career as he would go on to become Liberal leader roughly a year later.
Despite having lost to Trudeau, the now 50-year-old senator feels more confident about a fight with the president's son who is three years his junior.
Brazeau noted that he no longer smokes and has been sober for five years.
"If I do step in the ring, I can guarantee that it will not be the same result as it was with my boxing match with Justin Trudeau. I'll just leave it at that," he said.