TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with all opposition leaders to discuss U.S.-Canada relations after newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump threatened sweeping tariffs on all Canadian products.
A source familiar with the matter said the meeting will take place early Wednesday afternoon. The person spoke on condition of anonymity as he/she was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Trudeau successfully employed a “Team Canada” approach during Trump’s first term, when the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade Agreement was renegotiated. But Trudeau’s minority government is in a much weaker position politically and faces an election within a year.
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Trudeau returned home on Friday after dining at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, with no guarantee that the newly elected president will withdraw from threatened tariffs on all products from the major US trading partner.
The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the US from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs.
Trump called Friday’s talks “productive” but indicated he would not back down from his promise to impose the tariffs as one of his first executive orders upon taking office in January.
Canada, which Trump says is unfairly lumping it in with Mexico, is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, with 77% of Canadian exports going to the US.
During Trump’s first term, his attempt to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, and reports that he was considering a 25% tariff on the auto sector were seen as an existential threat in Canada.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, told The Associated Press on Sunday that Trudeau was successful in getting Trump and key Cabinet nominees to understand that there is no comparison between the Canada-U.S. border and the Mexico-U.S. border. Hillman sat at a table next to Trudeau and Trump.
Migrant flows and drug seizures vary enormously. U.S. Customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared to 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most of the fentanyl that reaches the U.S. — where it causes about 70,000 overdose deaths annually — is made by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
On the immigration front, U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with irregular migrants at the southwest border with Mexico between October 2023 and September 2024. That compares to 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during that time.
Canada is the main export destination for 36 US states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border every day.
About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada, as do 85% of U.S. electricity imports.
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.
