Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Palm Beach, Fla. to meet with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, according to senior government sources.
Trudeau’s plane landed this evening at Palm Beach International Airport, which is used by Donald Trump when the U.S. president-elect travels to his Mar-a-Lago estate. Trump has been meeting with his transition team at Mar-a-Lago in recent weeks.
The Prime Minister’s Office has refused to comment on the trip. But sources speaking on the condition that they not be named have told CBC News that Trudeau will be dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Friday night. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc is travelling with Trudeau, sources said.
Trump said Monday night he would impose a 25 per cent tax on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop what he calls an “invasion” of drugs, “in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens” into the United States.
Trudeau spoke with Trump by phone on Monday evening after the president-elect made his tariff promise. 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 on Monday evening 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 tariff threat.
If Trump follows through on his promise, it could have a massive impact on the Canadian economy.
The U.S. imported $614.3 billion Cdn 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 Cdn of Canadian goods between January and September of this year.
Trump said the 25 per cent tariff was due to his concerns about the borders with both Canada and Mexico.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“Both 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.”