Trudeau Meets Trump in Florida Amid Tariff Threats

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks through the lobby of the Delta Hotel by Marriott in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 29, 2024. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc met U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Nov. 29.

While no official statements about the meeting were issued on Nov. 29, Liberal MP Anthony Housefather commented on the meeting.

“Strong interpersonal relationships are key to managing the incredibly important Canada/US relationship,” Housefather said on social media platform X on Nov. 29. “I am glad to see [Trudeau and Leblanc] meeting with President Trump tonight.”

The meeting took place after Trump recently announced that he plans on slapping a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico unless the two countries stop illegal border crossings and the flow of illicit drugs such as fentanyl into the United States.

Trudeau said earlier on Nov. 29 that he is going to resolve the tariff issue by talking with Trump.

“We’re going to work together to meet some of the concerns,” Trudeau said in a press conference in Prince Edward Island.

“But ultimately it is through lots of real constructive conversations with President Trump that I am going to have, that will keep us moving forward on the right track for all Canadians.”

Concern in Canada

A day after Trump announced the new tariffs on Nov. 25, Trudeau said he had a “good call” with the president-elect, and that the two talked about “how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth.”

Trudeau met with Canadian premiers on the issue on Nov. 27.

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the premiers and the prime minister discussed the need for unity, as well as securing the border.

“We agreed that illegal drugs, especially opioids, are a scourge for both of our countries, and that we need to continue to work hard to ensure our border is safe and secure, and to really crack down on illegal drugs,” she said.

Canadian exports to the United States totaled C$593 billion in 2023 ($423 billion), while U.S. exports to Canada totaled C$484 billion ($345 billion).

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, whose province’s auto industry would be severely impacted by the tariffs, has urged swift action on border security and asked Ottawa to be more proactive to avoid the “economic chaos” that the tariffs would bring.

Other premiers have also called for more action, including Quebec Premier François Legault and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who wants to ensure her province’s energy exports won’t be subject to tariffs. Smith has said she is considering deploying provincial border patrol. Securing borders falls in federal jurisdiction.

The RCMP said this week it’s looking to redeploy up to one-quarter of its eastern region workforce to match operational priorities, including to the Canada-U.S. border.

Tariff Wars

In 2018 during Trump’s first presidency, the United States imposed tariffs of 25 percent on Canadian steel products, and 10 percent on Canadian aluminum imports. Canada retaliated in a similar manner, and the two sides eventually lifted the tariffs in 2019.

Trump’s first tenure also saw the renegotiation of the North American free trade deal with Canada and Mexico. To ensure agreement on the deal, Canada had to make concessions to its dairy supply management system in favor of the United States.

The agreement is up for review again in 2026, and Trump has said he plans on renegotiating it.

Amid U.S. concerns that Mexico is serving as a backdoor to Chinese goods and thus could jeopardize the signing of a renewed trilateral agreement, Canadian premiers have said it may be best for Canada and the United States to sign a bilateral deal instead.

“If Mexico won’t fight transshipment by, at the very least, matching Canadian and American tariffs on Chinese imports, they shouldn’t have a seat at the table or enjoy access to the largest economy in the world,” Ontario’s Ford said on Nov. 12, later adding that all premiers are aligned with him on this view.

Canada has matched the United States’s 100 percent tariffs on electric vehicles from China, and has also imposed 25 percent tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.

Trump’s Call With Mexican President

Trump said on Nov. 27 that in a phone call he had with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, she agreed to prevent illegal immigrants from traveling to the U.S. southern border.

“She has agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border,” Trump wrote on social media.

One day after the two leaders spoke, Sheinbaum denied the assertion that Mexico would close its northern border.

“It has never been our approach, and of course, we don’t agree with that,” Sheinbaum said during a regular morning news conference on Nov. 28.

Before the recent phone conversation with Trump, Sheinbaum had said in response to the president-elect’s tariff threats, that she would work with him, but that Mexico would impose retaliatory tariffs if his plans materialize.

“One tariff will follow another and so on, until we put our common businesses at risk,” she said.

Trump had said in his Nov. 25 announcement of the tariffs that they will “remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”

Jacob Burg, Noé Chartier, Matthew Horwood, The Associated Press, and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.