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While he didn't take any direct jabs at the 2016 GOP front-runner, Justin Trudeau contrasted his policy of welcoming Syrian refugees to Canada with Donald Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. | Getty Trudeau: I'll work with Trump if I have to

Justin Trudeau isn't fond of Donald Trump's policies, but he'll find a way to work with the Republican presidential frontrunner, if he has to.

"There have been lots of times in the past that the ideologies of president and prime minister haven't perfectly matched up, but where there's been a very constructive and positive relationship," Trudeau said during an hour-long Huffington Post town hall on Monday, ahead of his first official visit to Washington later in the week.

During the Q&A, the Canadian prime minister marveled at how the brash billionaire has upended U.S. politics, but refused to take the bait and attack Trump.

“Wouldn’t this be a good time to speak out about what they’re calling in the United States ‘Trumpism’?” Huffington Post global editorial director Howard Fineman asked.

“I think if I were American, I would be asking people right now about why is that so many people are angry at your politics? Why is it that so many people are so disenfranchised with your democracy that they seem to be acting out or lashing out?” Trudeau said.

“I’m not going to pick a fight with Donald Trump right now, I’m not going to support him either, obviously,” he said. Before adding, “But I am watching very, very carefully to see this, I think, important moment in the United States in the greatest democracy in the world, to see how it deals with what is obviously a very real set of issues around frustration towards the body politic that we’ve seen in various iterations around the world.”

He also touched on a huge policy difference between the two. Trudeau has accepted 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada, while Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the U.S. and the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

When asked about Trump's proposals, Trudeau said he didn't want to get into hypotheticals and stressed the importance of the U.S.-Canadian relationship. "The reality is we will work alongside our neighbors and allies regardless of the political choices that they make. We have too much of our economy that is wrapped up in the United States, too much that we depend on each other for."

He was also asked by a reader how he’d vote if he were an American, Trudeau avoided the question by saying “I’m not an American, I’m a Canadian.” And he said he has faith Americans will figure it out in the end.

But he did make one joking reference to the comments people who dislike Trump have made about moving to Canada, particularly the island Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, which gained fame after a resident made a website titled “Cape Breton if Donald Trump wins.”

“Cape Breton is lovely all times of the year and if people do want to make choices that perhaps suit their lifestyles better, Canada is always welcoming an opening," he said.

