Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Palm Beach, Fla., to attend a dinner Friday night with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. The visit comes amid Trump’s threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian products entering the United States.
Trudeau’s plane landed earlier in the evening at Palm Beach International Airport, which is used by Trump when he travels to his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump has been meeting with his transition team there in recent weeks.
Pennsylvania senator-elect Dave McCormick posted a photo to social media platform X late Friday showing Trudeau sitting beside Trump during dinner at the Florida estate.
Those in the photo included McCormick, Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for U.S. commerce secretary; Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, the pick for interior secretary; and national security adviser nominee Florida Rep. Mike Waltz.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made a surprise trip to Florida to meet with Donald Trump, in the wake of the U.S. president-elect’s threat to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods entering the U.S.
Sources who spoke confidentially because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly told CBC/Radio-Canada that members of the Canadian delegation present included Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Trudeau adviser Katie Telford.
The sources said Trudeau planned to spend the night in West Palm Beach and leave first thing in the morning.
A Canadian government source said there was no guarantee tariffs are coming off the table, but the Canadians left the meeting with optimism a solution is attainable.
The source also said Trudeau promised to increase security along the Canada-U.S. border and specifically told Trump he’ll increase helicopter patrols.
One thing that struck Canadian officials, the source said, is how important the fentanyl issue is to Trump and anything Canada can do to help on that front is key.
Overall, Canadian officials felt they made good connections yesterday and now know key players on Trump’s new team, the source said.
Federal, provincial leaders react to meeting
In a social media post on Saturday morning, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said in French that “you can’t fault the prime minister” for meeting Trump when the president-elect is “starting the next round of trade negotiations in an intimidating way and imploding conditions in part based on border control.”
Blanchet also said that Quebec and Canada need to show the United States “how important they are to its economy” and foresee changes to the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement.
“We’ll collaborate if it’s good for Quebec and support the request for a Quebec negotiator at the table,” Blanchet said.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a social media post on Saturday morning that “it is telling one of the primary topics of discussion” between Trump and Trudeau was oil and gas pipelines.
It is telling that one of the primary topics of discussion between incoming President <a href=”https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@realDonaldTrump</a> and Prime Minister <a href=”https://twitter.com/JustinTrudeau?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@justintrudeau</a> was oil and gas pipelines. It once again demonstrates that the path to a strong security and economic relationship with the United States is… <a href=”https://t.co/Oytn8QHopN”>pic.twitter.com/Oytn8QHopN</a>
—@ABDanielleSmith
“It once again demonstrates that the path to a strong security and economic relationship with the United States is directly tied to our nation’s commitment to providing the United States with the oil and gas it requires to achieve its energy security and affordability goals,” Smith said.
Smith also called on the prime minister to scrap the federal government’s planned oil and gas emissions cap and “commence work on additional pipeline infrastructure between Canada and the United States.”
PM says tariffs would hurt both countries
Trump said Monday night on a Truth Social post he would impose a 25 per cent tax on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop what he called an “invasion” of drugs, “in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens” into the U.S.
Trudeau told a news conference earlier on Friday that Trump’s tariff threats should be taken seriously.
“Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about that,” he told reporters.
“Our responsibility is to point out that in this way he would be actually not just harming Canadians who work so well with the United States. He’d actually be raising prices for American citizens as well, and hurting American industry and businesses.”
Trudeau spoke with Trump by phone on Monday evening after the president-elect made his tariff threat. The prime minister said Tuesday morning that the two had a “good call.”
“We obviously talked about… how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth. We talked about some of the challenges we can work on together,” Trudeau told reporters.
The two leaders talked for about 10 minutes and primarily discussed trade and border security, according to a government source with knowledge of the phone call. Trudeau pointed out that the number of migrants who cross from Canada to the U.S. is a tiny fraction of those who cross from Mexico, the source said.
Trudeau held a virtual meeting with Canada’s premiers on Wednesday evening to discuss strategy in wake of Trump’s threat.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tells Power & Politics the Trudeau government must ‘address’ border issues to avoid Trump’s ‘devastating’ tariff threat.
If Trump follows through, it could have a massive impact on the Canadian economy.
The U.S. imported $614.3 billion worth of goods from Canada in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. More recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the U.S. imported about $435 billion of Canadian goods between January and September of this year.
In his online post, Trump said Mexico and Canada “have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!”
LeBlanc said earlier this week that Canadians can expect to see the government and law enforcement agencies reassuring Canadians that the border is safe and “showing Americans the history and daily partnership that exists between the RCMP and American agencies.”
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said in a statement on Friday evening that the face-to-face meeting is a “show of good faith” and proves that Trudeau is listening to opposition critics and premiers that say he “needs to do better.”
“The prime minister is demonstrating that he understands there are unconventional methods to Trump’s way of operating and showing the humility that his detractors accuse him of lacking.”