Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday for a meal with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago club, as the incoming US leader warned penalties on Canadian products.
The surprise encounter came at the conclusion of a week in which both Canada and Mexico scrambled to mitigate the impact of Trump’s trade threats, which experts warned may hurt US consumers hard.
A smiling Trudeau was seen exiting a hotel in West Palm Beach before arriving at Mar-a-Lago, making him the latest high-profile guest of Trump, whose impending second term — which starts in January — is already overshadowing the last few months of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Flight trackers had first spotted a jet broadcasting the prime minister’s callsign making its way to the southern U.S. state. A Canadian government source later told AFP that the two leaders were dining together.
Trump caused panic among some of the biggest U.S. trading partners on Monday when he said he would impose tariffs of 25 percent on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10 percent on goods from China.
He accused the countries of not doing enough to halt the “invasion” of the United States by drugs, “in particular fentanyl,” and undocumented migrants.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Wednesday, but their recollections of the encounter differed significantly.
Trump claimed that Mexico’s left-wing president had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
Sheinbaum later said she had discussed U.S.-supported anti-migration policies that have long been in place in Mexico.
She said that after that, the talks had no longer revolved around the threat of tariff hikes, downplaying the risk of a trade war.
Billions in trade
Biden warned on the same day that Trump’s tariff threats may “screw up” Washington’s relations with Ottawa and Mexico City.
“I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters.
Trudeau did not reply to media queries as he returned to his hotel Friday evening following his meeting with Trump.
However, for Canada, any new levies carry significant risk.
More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.
A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
Some have suggested Trump’s tariff threat may be bluster, or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province.
“Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said. “There’s no question about it.”
According to Flightradar, the Canadian leader’s jet arrived at Palm Beach International Airport late Friday afternoon.
The Canadian public broadcaster CBC reported that Trudeau’s public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was accompanying him on the trip.
