Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks through the lobby of the Delta Hotel by Marriott, on November 30, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida
| Photo Credit: AP

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday (November 30, 2024) after his meeting with Donald Trump without assurances the President-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.

After the leaders’ hastily arranged dinner Friday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Mr. Trudeau spoke of “an excellent conversation” and said in a post later Saturday on X, accompanied by a photo of the two men seated a table and smiling, that he looked forward to “the work we can do together, again.” Trump said earlier on Truth Social that they discussed “many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address.”

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For issues in need of such cooperation, Trump cited fentanyl and the “Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration,” fair trade deals “that do not jeopardize American Workers” and the U.S. trade deficit with its ally to the north.

Trump asserted that the Prime Minister had made “a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation” of American families from fentanyl from China reaching the United States through its neighbors. The U.S., he said, “will no longer sit idly by as our Citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic.”

The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January.

U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. On immigration, the 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 — and Canadian officials say they are ready to make new investments in border security.

Mr. Trudeau called Trump after the Republican’s social media posts about the tariffs last Monday and they agreed to meet, according to a official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss detail of the private talks. The official said other countries are calling Canadian officials to hear how about how the meeting was arranged and to ask for advice.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, after speaking with Trump on the telephone, said Thursday she was confident a tariff war with Washington would be averted.

At the dinner that was said to last three hours, Trump said he and Mr. Trudeau also discussed energy, trade and the Arctic. A second official cited defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast, pipelines and the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year as other issues that arose.

Mr. Trudeau’s office said in a statement that the leaders “shared a productive wide-ranging discussion” centering on “collaboration and strengthening our relationship,” adding, “As Canada’s closest friend and ally, the United States is our key partner, and we are committed to working together in the interests of Canadians and Americans.”

Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “weak” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 leader to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election.

“Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold move was in order. Perhaps it was a risk, but a risk worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Mr. Trudeau had said before leaving from Friday that Trump was elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now was talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products, including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada.

“It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Mr. Trudeau said.

“Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added.

The threatened tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Mr. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “win win” for both countries.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs as president, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.

Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world, and 77% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S.

Palm Beach:

Justin Trudeau had an “excellent conversation” with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Florida estate, Canada’s prime minister said Saturday, as the United States’ neighbors scramble to blunt the impact of Trump’s trade threats.

Trudeau flew for a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, after Trump earlier this week announced plans for import tariffs against Canada and Mexico and rival China.

“It was an excellent conversation,” Trudeau told reporters Saturday morning as he was leaving a hotel in West Palm Beach to catch a flight back to Canada.

Trudeau was the latest high-profile guest of Trump, whose impending second term — which starts in January — is already overshadowing the last few months of President Joe Biden’s administration.

A photograph released by Pennsylvania Senator-elect David McCormick showed Trump and Trudeau side-by-side at table, surrounded by a dozen guests including Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, and Mike Waltz, his choice for national security advisor.

In a social media post on Monday, Trump said he would slap a 25 percent tariff on Mexico and Canada, accusing the two US neighbors of allowing an “invasion” of the United States by illicit drugs, namely fentanyl, and undocumented migrants.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Wednesday, though the two leaders’ accounts of the conversation differed drastically.

Trump claimed that Mexico’s left-wing president had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”

Sheinbaum later said she had discussed US-supported anti-migration policies that have long been in place in Mexico.

She said that after that, the talks had no longer revolved around the threat of tariff hikes, downplaying the risk of a trade war.

Billions in trade

Biden warned that same day that Trump’s tariff threats could “screw up” Washington’s relationships with Ottawa and Mexico City.

“I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters.

For Canada, the stakes of any new tariffs are high.

More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.

A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.

Some analysts have suggested Trump’s tariff threat may be bluster, or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province.

“Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said. “There’s no question about it.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)