Trudeau
in Florida to meet Trump after tariffs threat – reports
Canada’s PM
to dine with US president-elect at Mar-a-Lago resort, news reports say, days
after Trump threatens 25% tariff on Canadian imports
Reuters in
West Palm Beach, Florida
Fri 29 Nov
2024 20.28 EST
The Canadian
prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, ahead of a
meeting Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to media reports, days
after the US president-elect threatened the US’s neighbour with import tariffs
once he takes office.
The Canadian
prime minister’s public itinerary does not list a scheduled visit to Florida.
Neither Trudeau’s office nor Trump’s representatives immediately responded to
requests for comment.
Canada’s
Globe and Mail newspaper, citing two unidentified sources, reported that
Trudeau was in Florida to meet with Trump. Trump was going to have dinner with
Trudeau on Friday night at Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported later, citing a source.
Canada’s
public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was travelling with Trudeau, the
Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Trump
threatened on Monday to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico
until the countries clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants
crossing the border.
Officials
from Mexico, Canada and China, along with major industry groups, have warned
that the hefty tariffs threatened by Trump would harm the economies of all
countries involved, cause inflation to spike and damage job markets.
Any hit to
the Canadian economy would add to Trudeau’s woes at a time when his popularity
has sunk in part due to a slowing economy and a rapid surge in the cost of
living over the past few years. Polls show Trudeau’s Liberals would lose to the
opposition Conservative party in an election that must be held by late October
2025.
Trudeau this
week pledged to stay united against Trump’s tariffs threat, and called a
meeting with the premiers of all 10 Canadian provinces to discuss US relations.
Canada is
the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and sixth-largest natural gas producer.
The vast majority of its 4m barrels a day of crude exports go to the US.
Trump’s plan
did not exempt crude oil from the trade penalties, two sources familiar with
the plan told Reuters on Tuesday.
More than
three-quarters of Canadian exports, worth C$592.7bn ($423bn), went to the US
last year, and nearly 2m Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.
A government
source said Canada was 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.”
With Agence
France-Presse
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