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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had dinner with Donald Trump on Friday, after the US president-elect threatened to impose high tariffs on Canadian imports on the first day of his presidency.
The meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida made Trudeau the first G7 world leader to visit Trump since his victory in this month’s U.S. presidential election. It followed phone calls between the two men as the Canadian prime minister tried to avert a North American trade war.
Also in attendance were Trump-appointed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who will play a major role in overseeing trade, his nominee for national security adviser Mike Waltz and his pick for Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at the event, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Canadian delegation, which included Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford and Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, did not stay at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, but at another hotel in Palm Beach.
Trump’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment. On his Truth Social network, Trump posted that he had an “interesting special guest” at his table.
With an interesting special guest at Trump’s head table at Mar-A-Lago pic.twitter.com/SxzYp8ZrR0
– Donald J. Trump posts on his social network Truth (@TrumpDailyPosts) November 30, 2024
Earlier in the week, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico unless the two countries put an end to what he called an “invasion” of drugs in the United States, “especially Fentanyl,” and “all illegal aliens.” “.
On Wednesday, the Canadian government said it would strengthen its border security after Trudeau met with Canada’s provincial leaders to agree on a united response to Trump’s threats.
The border between the United States and Canada is the longest in the world, spanning nearly 9,000 km over land and water. Security on land is light, there are few walls or fences, and in places it is marked by simple stone markers along residential streets.
Across-the-board tariffs of 25 percent would push Canada into a recession in 2025, cause a sharp rise in inflation and force the Bank of Canada to maintain higher rates next year, according to Tony Stillo, director of the economics at Oxford Economics.
“Canada’s energy, automotive and other heavy manufacturing sectors would be hardest hit by U.S. tariffs due to the high degree of cross-border trade in these industries. These sectors rely heavily on exports to the United States, but also source a significant portion of their inputs from the United States, making them highly exposed to tariffs,” he said.
Canada actually has leverage in its trade relations amounting to $1.3 trillion per year, particularly thanks to its energy sector. Canada supplies 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports.
Lisa Baiton, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said: “A 25 per cent tariff on oil and natural gas would likely result in lower production in Canada and higher costs for gasoline and energy for American consumers. »
This is not the first time Trudeau has faced Trump’s “America First” trade policy. In 2017, the then-president pushed to renegotiate the two-decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement, which he described as a “disaster” that, along with China, had gutted the manufacturing sector American.
During his previous term, Trump also criticized Trudeau for Canada’s defense spending, which fell short of NATO’s 2 percent target. Canada is increasing its defense budget, but Trudeau told a NATO summit in July that the target would not be reached until 2032.
