Canada’s Trudeau says he had a ‘very good conversation’ with Trump in Florida after the tariff threat

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday he had a “very good conversation” with Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club after the president-elect threatened to impose significant tariffs on the two American leaders. trading partners raised the alarm in Ottawa and Mexico City.

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It was unclear, as Trudeau returned to Canada from Florida, whether the conversation had eased Trump’s concerns.

A person familiar with the details of the leaders’ hastily arranged meeting on Friday night said it was “a nice three-hour dinner.” The official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said topics included trade, border security, fentanyl, defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast and pipelines, and the Group of Seven meeting in Canada next year.

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The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products if the countries do not stop what he calls the flow of drugs and immigrants across their borders. He said he would impose a 25% tariff on all products entering the US from Canada and Mexico as one of his first laws when he takes office in January.

As he left his West Palm Beach hotel, Trudeau stopped briefly to answer a reporter’s question about the dinner meeting, saying it was “a very good conversation.” Trump’s transition team did not respond to questions about the leaders’ comments.

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

“Taxes are an important issue in Canada and the bold move was well-deserved. Maybe it was a risk, but it was a risk worth taking,” Daniel Beland, a professor of political science at McGill University in Montreal.

Among those at the dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump’s choice for secretary of commerce; North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who is in line to lead the Department of the Interior; and Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be his national security adviser. Accompanying Trudeau were Canada’s public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, whose job includes border security, and Katie Telford, Trudeau’s chief of staff.

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Trudeau had said earlier on Friday that he would resolve the tax issue by talking to Trump. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said the previous day after speaking with Trump that she hoped a tariff war with the United States would be avoided.

Trudeau said that Trump was elected because he promised to reduce the cost of groceries, but now he is 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 such statements, he plans to make them. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said before heading to Florida.

“Our job is to show that not only will it hurt Canadians, who do well with the United States, but it will actually raise prices for American citizens and hurt American industry and business,” he added.

For Nelson Wiseman, a senior professor at the University of Toronto, Trump “does not need to be convinced that new tariffs on Canadian products will not be in the interests of the US.” He knows that, but he can’t say it because it will detract from what he said publicly. His aim is to project the image that he gets action when he talks.”

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Those tariffs could destroy the North American trade deal that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted that they were able to successfully renegotiate the agreement, which he called a “win-win” for both countries.

Trump made the tariff threats on Monday while addressing the influx of illegal immigrants, although the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to those at the US-Mexico border.

Trump also talked about fentanyl coming from Mexico and Canada, although seizures from the Canadian border are few compared to the Mexican border.

Canadian officials say merging Canada and Mexico is wrong but say they are ready to invest new money in border security.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for example, announced billions of new jobs in 2018 against the US in response to new tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Canada is the top exporter of the 36 US states. About $3.6 billion (US $2.7 billion) worth of Canadian goods and services cross the border each day.

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Gillies reported from Toronto.

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