Justin Trudeau had an “wonderful dialog” with Donald Trump on the president-elect’s Florida property, Canada’s prime minister mentioned Saturday, as the USA’ neighbors scramble to blunt the impression of Trump’s commerce threats.
Trudeau flew for a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Friday, after Trump earlier this week introduced plans for import tariffs towards Canada and Mexico and rival China.
“It was a superb dialog,” Trudeau informed reporters Saturday morning as he was leaving a lodge in West Palm Seaside to catch a flight again to Canada.
Trudeau was the newest high-profile visitor of Trump, whose impending second time period — which begins in January — is already overshadowing the previous few months of President Joe Biden’s administration.
{A photograph} launched by Pennsylvania Senator-elect David McCormick confirmed Trump and Trudeau side-by-side at desk, surrounded by a dozen friends together with Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s decide for commerce secretary, and Mike Waltz, his selection for nationwide safety advisor.
In a social media publish on Monday, Trump mentioned he would slap a 25 p.c tariff on Mexico and Canada, accusing the 2 US neighbors of permitting an “invasion” of the USA by illicit medicine, particularly fentanyl, and undocumented migrants.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by cellphone on Wednesday, although the 2 leaders’ accounts of the dialog differed drastically.
Trump claimed that Mexico’s left-wing president had “agreed to cease migration via Mexico, and into the USA, successfully closing our Southern Border.”
Sheinbaum later mentioned she had mentioned US-supported anti-migration insurance policies which have lengthy been in place in Mexico.
She mentioned that after that, the talks had not revolved round the specter of tariff hikes, downplaying the danger of a commerce warfare.
– Billions in commerce –
Biden warned that very same day that Trump’s tariff threats might “screw up” Washington’s relationships with Ottawa and Mexico Metropolis.
“I believe it is a counterproductive factor to do,” Biden informed reporters.
For Canada, the stakes of any new tariffs are excessive.
Greater than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the USA final yr, and almost two million Canadian jobs are depending on commerce.
A Canadian authorities supply informed AFP that Canada is contemplating potential retaliatory tariffs towards the USA.
Some analysts have urged Trump’s tariff menace could also be bluster, or a gap salvo in future commerce negotiations. However Trudeau rejected these 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 mentioned. “There is not any query about it.”
