Two of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's top cabinet ministers met Friday with two members of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet in an effort to block the prospect of imposing tariffs on Canadian exports.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc traveled to Florida to brief the presidential transition team on the government's plans to improve border security and Trump's threat to impose stiff tariffs on all Canadian exports to the U.S. would hurt both countries. economies.
Trump last month threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, starting Jan. 20, his inauguration day, unless the countries stop the flow of drugs and immigrants across their borders.
Jolie and LeBlanc met Friday morning with Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, and his pick for interior secretary, Doug Bergum, at the president-elect's Mar-a-Lago resort, where his transition team is headquartered.
“Both ministers outlined Canada's Access to Border Plan and reiterated their shared commitment to strengthening border security to save Canadian and American lives as well as combating the harm caused by fentanyl,” LeBlanc's spokesman Jean-Sébastien Comeau told CBC News in an email.
While the ministers did not get a commitment to stop the tariffs, Comeau said the meeting was “productive” and positive, and discussions would continue in the coming weeks.
CBC News reached out to Jolie and LeBlanc for interviews Friday, but they were not available.
The Trudeau government has been scrambling for the past month to mount a response to the tariff threat, with so far the prime minister and LeBlanc, then the public safety minister, flying to Mar-a-Lago for a dinner meeting with Trump. and unveiling a $1.3-billion suite of measures to disrupt the flow of fentanyl and strengthen 24/7 border surveillance.
Meanwhile, Trump has followed up with a succession of Canada-focused social media posts, including one that taunts Trudeau as “the governor,” suggesting Canadians. Better to live in the 51st stateAnd he claimed to have asked former hockey star Wayne Gretzky to “run for prime minister”.
Trudeau is currently in British Columbia on Christmas vacation, amid mounting questions about his leadership and the imminent threat that his government could fall in a no-confidence vote next month.
CBC News reached out to Trump's transition team for comment on Friday's meetings but did not receive a response.
US President-elect Donald Trump has claimed on social media that he asked hockey icon Wayne Gretzky to run for prime minister during a Christmas visit. Trump's latest comment on Canadian politics comes after Canada becomes the 51st state of the US and a meeting with 'Governor' Justin Trudeau.
Lutnick, CEO of Wall Street financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald, was a major donor to Trump's campaign. The president-elect said Lutnick would “lead our tariff and trade agenda” when announcing his nomination as commerce secretary.
Trump's trade deficit concerns raised at meeting: source
Trump's frustrations about the U.S. trade deficit with Canada came up during the meeting, a senior Canadian government source told CBC News.
Trump has repeatedly wrongly characterized the trade deficit — about $75 billion in 2023 — as the U.S. subsidizing the Canadian economy.
Economists say the trade deficit is almost entirely due to Canada's large petroleum exports. According to data, the US imported more crude oil than Canada in 2023 from all other countries combined Data posted by US Energy Information Administration.
Sources said it will be difficult for Canada to deal with Trump's trade deficit concerns.
The president-elect has signaled that he wants to renegotiate the terms of the trilateral trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico, a deal struck during Trump's first term in office.
Canada's likely main objective for LeBlanc and Jolie at the Mar-a-Lago meeting Planned limit measure That would be enough to deter Trump from following through on his tariff threats, said Dalhousie University political science professor Lori Turnbull.
“I'm not sure it's realistic that they're going to get the same answer today,” Turnbull told CBC News Network's Natasha Fattah in an interview on Friday.
“But I think the point is to try to move towards that goal and see what else needs to be done,” Turnbull said.
“I think more broadly, it's about relationship building. It's about being there, establishing a conversation, keeping that line of communication open and talking to people who aren't Trump.”
Before the meeting, LeBlanc's spokesperson said the ministers intended to “focus on Canada's efforts to combat fentanyl smuggling and illegal immigration and the measures outlined in Canada's border plan, as well as the negative effects of imposing 25 percent tariffs. Canadian goods in both Canada and the United States will be.”
LeBlanc previously said he would meet with Trump's border czar Tom Homan “after Christmas” to present Canada's proposed plan to secure the shared border. However, LeBlanc did not meet Homan on Friday.
