Trudeau presents prime ministers with plan to address Trump's border concerns as traffic threat

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Canadian premiers on Wednesday to discuss Ottawa's plans to address U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's concerns about the Canada-U.S. border.

It's the second time Trudeau has met with prime ministers since Trump threatened Canada with tougher taxes last month — and the first since the prime minister's dinner with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

On his first day in office, the president-elect said he would impose 25 percent tariffs on goods coming from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop the “invasion” of drugs “especially fentanyl and all illegal aliens” in the US.

A senior source with knowledge of the virtual meeting said the prime minister outlined ways the federal government plans to address Trump's concerns about the border.

Those measures include more restrictions on chemical precursors that are used to make fentanyl and to improve coordination between the RCMP and other police forces, the source said.

Public Security Minister Dominique LeBlanc – who was at the meeting with the prime ministers and at the dinner with Trump – said on Wednesday that details of the government's plans would be made public “in the coming days”.

“We're going to incorporate a lot of positive suggestions from the prime ministers to finalize our border plan and then, obviously, the details of that plan will be a priority to share with the incoming Trump administration and with Canadians,” he told reporters. Meeting with Prime Ministers.

Trudeau's government is considering spending Billions of dollars to secure the Canada-US border — possibly more than $1 billion — in an effort to ease Trump's concerns, sources told CBC News and Radio-Canada.

LeBlanc previously said the government is looking to buy more equipment to tighten the border, including helicopters and drones.

The plan was missing some details but was otherwise well received by the premiers, a provincial source told CBC News.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford — currently president of the Council of Federation — told reporters after the meeting that what he heard at the meeting was a “good start.”

“There is a plan, now it has to be implemented,” he said.

Ford said the premiers called for better information-sharing about tracing fentanyl and precursors, and more RCMP and CBSA officers to monitor the border.

While immigration and illegal drug trafficking are taking place along the northern border Part of the passage from MexicoTrump is still worried about what's coming from Canada — just as Canadian officials are worried about the flow of drugs and guns north.

If Trump follows through on his tariff threat, it could have a major impact on the Canadian economy.

The U.S. imported $614.3 billion worth of goods from Canada in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Recent figures from the US Census Bureau show that between January and September of this year, the US imported about $435 billion worth of Canadian goods.

A senior federal source told CBC News that Ottawa has engaged with American businesses to make the case against the tariffs to American politicians.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who was also at Wednesday's meeting, said she had sought advice from prime ministers on which products to target if retaliatory tariffs were necessary.

“Some premiers have actively identified products that their provinces produce and export to the United States — and on which the U.S. depends — and which should be considered as part of Canada's response,” she said.

Ford said Canada needs to be “ready to fight” and that Trump's tariffs are “100 percent” coming.

“People, it's coming … it's coming on January 20 or 21, and we need to be ready. We need to stand up as a country,” he said.

Freeland did not say that Trump was certain to follow through on his threat.

“During the NAFTA negotiations, I learned that it's important not to get ahead of ourselves and it's important never to answer hypothetical questions. I think we also learned that Canada needs to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Six,” she said on Wednesday. .

Ford suggested that Canada could cut energy supplies to the U.S. Canada sends significant amounts of oil, natural gas and electricity south of the border.

“We will go to the extent of cutting off their energy,” he said on Wednesday.

“I don't want this to happen, but my number one job is to protect Ontario, Ontarians and Canadians as a whole.”

Premiers pitching their case to Americans

Many premiers are on a charm offensive, meeting with governors and other politicians south of the border.

At least two Canadian premiers have appeared on American network television to pitch their cases to American audiences.

Ford appeared on CNBC Power lunch Wednesday afternoon and argued that Trump's proposed tariffs would hurt both Canadians and Americans.

“It's hurting the American people. It's hurting the Canadian people. Why the president (elect) is doing this is beyond me,” Ford told host Kelly Evans. Ford added that he will push Trudeau to make sure he addresses Trump's concerns about the border.

Ford has also made several appearances on Fox News in recent weeks, and Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has been interviewed by Fox.

Ford's government also launched a million-dollar American advertising campaign promoting economic and cultural ties between the province and the United States.

On Wednesday, Ford asked the federal government to follow his lead and run its own ads south of the border.