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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