The Canadian finance and foreign ministers will hold talks in the US state of Florida with advisers to Donald Trump as the future US president Threatening to hit Canada There is great danger with high tariffs.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday to discuss the impact of tariffs on both countries.
Late last month, Trump threatened to do so Tariffs of 25 percent on all Canadian goods if the US’s northern neighbor does not do more to stem the flow of illegal drugs and irregular migration across its border.
LeBlanc’s office said in a statement Thursday that Canadian ministers would “highlight the negative impact that imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods would have on both Canada and the United States.”
Friday’s meeting will also focus on Canada’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration, the office added.
It was not immediately clear which Trump advisers the ministers would meet with, but LeBlanc said last week that he planned to meet with them after Christmas Tom HomanTrump’s new “border czar”.
Politico also reported on Friday that talks with Canadian ministers were expected Howard Lutnicka billionaire businessman tapped by Trump to be the next U.S. Secretary of Commerce.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government has stressed the importance of strong U.S.-Canada ties in the face of Trump’s tariff threat, with Trudeau himself traveling to Mar-a-Lago in late November for face-to-face talks with the U.S. president-elect.
But Trudeau, whose popularity has decreased significantly In recent years he has been under pressure from conservative politicians at the federal and provincial levels to resolve all issues before Trump takes office next month.
The prime minister also faces calls to step down as leader of his Liberal Party ahead of next year’s federal election.
Those calls grew louder with Trudeau this month long-time deputy, Chrystia Freeland, She resigned from her Cabinet positions because of what she said were disagreements over how best to deal with the new U.S. president.
“The new administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including the threat of 25 percent tariffs. We must take this threat extremely seriously,” Freeland, who served as finance minister and deputy prime minister, wrote in her resignation letter.
“That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today so we have the reserves we might need for a coming tariff war,” she said.
Experts say US tariffs combined with countermeasures from Canada would lead to this harms the economies of both countries.
According to the Canadian government, the United States and Canada exchanged $2.7 billion (C$3.6 billion) worth of goods and services across their shared border every day last year.
In recent weeks, Trudeau’s government has announced New investments to improve security on the U.S.-Canada border, including the use of “helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers” by Canadian federal police along the sprawling border.
But it remains unclear whether the new measures will be enough to stave off Trump’s tariff threat.
Homan, the U.S.’s new “border czar,” told Canada’s CTV News in an interview earlier this month that this was the case Canadian immigration laws were “too lax”.
“Of course it’s up to Canada to change these rules,” Homan said, adding he was “grateful” that Canadian ministers were “coming to the table to talk about border security because the northern border poses a major national security risk.”
Human rights Advocates have called on Canada Not demonizing migrants and asylum seekers to appease the new US administration, which has promised to pursue tough, anti-immigrant policies when Trump takes office next month.
As uncertainty continues to grow over his threat of tariffs, Trump has repeatedly mocked Trudeau and Canada, calling the prime minister the “governor” of a country he says should be the 51st U.S. state.
On Wednesday, the U.S. president-elect said he had urged Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to run as the country’s next leader.
“I said, ‘Wayne, why don’t you run for prime minister of Canada, soon to be known as governor of Canada? You would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign.” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“He wasn’t interested, but I think the people of Canada should start a DRAFT WAYNE GRETZKY movement.”
