Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with newly elected President Donald Trump at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday, Canada’s CBC News reported. The meeting comes in the wake of Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on goods from Canada.
Trudeau will dine with Trump at Mar-a-largo on Friday evening, according to senior sources who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named due to the sensitivity of the trip. The sources said the meeting was urged by Canadian officials, the Canadian Broadcaster said.
Trudeau’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport around 5:30 p.m. local time.
The meeting comes after Trudeau warned earlier Friday that if Trump follows through threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian productshe would raise prices for Americans and hurt American businesses.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries do not stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across the southern and northern borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products enter the US from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.
“It is important to understand that when Donald Trump makes such statements, he intends to carry them out. There is no doubt about that,” Trudeau told reporters on Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada.
“Our responsibility is to point out that not only would he harm Canadians who work so well with the United States, but he would actually raise prices for American citizens and harm American industry and business,” he added. he added.
Trudeau said Trump was elected because he promised to lower the cost of groceries, but now he’s talking about adding 25% to the cost of a variety of products, including Prince Edward Island potatoes.
Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade deal that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted that they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he called a “win-win” for both countries.
“We can work together like we did before,” Trudeau said.
Trump made the tariff threat Monday as he railed against the influx of illegal migrants, even as the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to the southern border.
U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone – and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024.
Trump also railed about fentanyl from Mexico and Canada, even though there are few seizures at the Canadian border compared to the Mexican border. U.S. Customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last year, compared to 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Canadian officials say it is unfair to lump Canada in with Mexico, but they are willing to make new investments in border security.
“We’re going to work together to address some of the concerns,” Trudeau said. “But ultimately, it will be through many constructive conversations with President Trump that we will stay on the right path for all Canadians.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Thursday that she has confidence in this a tariff war with the United States will be averted. Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with her and that she had agreed to stop unauthorized migration across the border into the United States.
When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term, other countries responded with their own retaliatory tariffs. For example, Canada announced billions in new tariffs against the US in 2018 in response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Canada is the main export destination for 36 US states. Nearly $2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border every day.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon covets and invests in for national security.
