Canadian Prime Minister visits Trump in Florida

Canadian Prime Minister visits Trump in Florida

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida to meet with President-elect Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products.

A person familiar with the matter said Trudeau would have dinner with Trump, according to the AP. The official was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc accompanied Trudeau on the trip. Trudeau is the first G-7 leader to visit Trump since the US election.

The visit comes days after Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over both countries’ failure to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs from those countries into the United States

Fox News Digital has reached out to Trump’s representatives.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks through the lobby of the Delta Hotel by Marriott in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau walks through the lobby of the Delta Hotel by Marriott in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Trudeau said earlier Friday that he would resolve the tariff issue through a conversation with Trump.

“We will work together to address some of the concerns,” he told reporters on Canada’s Prince Edward Island. “But ultimately, I will have a lot of really constructive conversations with President Trump that will ensure we move forward on the right path for all Canadians.”

Trudeau said Trump was elected because he promised to lower food prices, but now he’s talking about raising the cost of all types of produce by 25%, including Prince Edward Island potatoes.

“It is important to understand that when Donald Trump makes such statements, he intends to put them into action. There is no doubt about that,” Trudeau said.

Earlier this week, Trump said he would raise tariffs on America’s neighbors on the first day of his presidency.

“Right now, a caravan of thousands of people from Mexico appears unstoppable as it makes its way through our currently open border,” he wrote. “On January 20, as one of my first executive orders, I will sign all the necessary documents to indict Mexico and Canada 25% tariff on ALL products coming into the United States and its ridiculous open borders.”

Meeting between Trump and Trudeau

President Trump (right) shakes hands with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting at Winfield House in London, December 3, 2019. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

On Wednesday, Trump spoke with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. After a productive telephone discussion, he said Sheinbaum had agreed to “stop migration through Mexico and into the United States.”

Sheinbaum had promised to increase tariffs on US goods if Trump carried out his threat.

Trump has previously called on Canada and Mexico to do more to prevent illegal immigration into the United States and combat the flow of illegal drugs, particularly fentanyl.

Shortly after Trump’s tariff promise, Canadian officials said the country was making border security a “top priority.”

“Our relationship today is balanced and mutually beneficial, especially for American workers,” Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in a joint statement. “Today, Canada buys more from the United States than China, Japan, France and the United Kingdom combined. Canada is critical to the U.S. domestic energy supply and last year, 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports came from Canada.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at an event in Mount Stewart, Prince Edward Island on Friday. (Ron Ward/The Canadian Press via AP)

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada and 85% of U.S. electricity imports come from Canada.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the United States and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon considers vital to national security.

If Trump follows through on his tariff threat, Canada could impose retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. goods, a senior Canadian official told The Associated Press this week.

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When Trump imposed higher tariffs in his first term, other countries responded with tariffs of their own. In 2018, Canada announced billions in tariffs against the United States in response to taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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