Trudeau to meet Trump in Florida as tariff threats loom

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau traveled to Florida with Donald Trump on Friday for a dinner at the new president’s Mar-a-Lago estate, after the incoming US leader promised tariffs on imports from Canada.

The unannounced meeting came at the end of a week in which Canada and Mexico struggled to cushion the impact of Trump’s trade threats; This could also hit U.S. consumers hard, experts warned.

A smiling Trudeau was seen leaving a hotel in West Palm Beach before arriving at Mar-a-Lago; That makes him the latest high-profile guest for Trump, whose upcoming second term, which begins in January, has already eclipsed the last few terms. Months into President Joe Biden’s administration.

Flight trackers first spotted a jet broadcasting the prime minister’s call signal and heading to the southern US state. A Canadian government source later told AFP that the two leaders had lunch together.

Trump caused panic in some of the United States’ largest trading partners on Monday when he announced that he would impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and a 10 percent tariff on goods from China.

He accused the countries of not doing enough to stop the “invasion” of the United States by drugs, especially fentanyl, and undocumented immigrants.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Wednesday, but the two leaders’ accounts of the call differed greatly.

Trump claimed that Mexico’s leftist president “agreed to stop immigration to the United States through Mexico and effectively close our Southern Border.”

Sheinbaum later said he was discussing U.S.-backed anti-immigration policies that have long been in effect in Mexico.

Going forward, he said, talks no longer revolved around the threat of tariff increases and the risk of a trade war was downplayed.

– Billions of dollars of trade –

Biden warned the same day that Trump’s tariff threats could “soil” Washington’s relations with Ottawa and Mexico City.

“I think this is counterproductive,” Biden told reporters.

Trudeau did not answer media questions as he returned to his hotel after meeting with Trump on Friday evening.

But the risk of new tariffs is high for Canada.

More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, C$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million jobs in Canada depend on trade.

A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada was considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the US.

Some have suggested that Trump’s tariff threat could be a bluster or the opening salvo of future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke to reporters earlier in the province of Prince Edward Island.

“When Donald Trump makes such statements, he plans to implement them,” Trudeau said. “There’s no doubt about it.”

The Canadian leader’s plane touched down at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday afternoon, according to the Flightradar website.

Canadian public broadcaster CBC said Trudeau was accompanied by public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc on the trip.

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