Canada’s new finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc, and foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, will meet with aides to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Friday to discuss the risks of imposing new trade tariffs, the Canadian government said. .
President Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian imports when he took office in January unless Canada reduced immigration and the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
LeBlanc’s office said in a statement Thursday that the two ministers will emphasize “the negative impact that the imposition of a 25% tariff on Canadian products will have on both Canada and the United States.”
The office added that Friday’s meeting will also focus on Canada’s efforts to combat drug trafficking and illegal immigration. However, the number of people entering the United States from Canada is far lower than from Mexico, which President Trump has also threatened.
The meeting comes as President Trump continues to disparage embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on social media. On Christmas Day, he referred to the leader of a close U.S. ally as “Canadian Governor Justin Trudeau,” again hinting that the country would become the 51st U.S. state.
US President-elect Donald Trump has claimed on social media that he encouraged hockey icon Wayne Gretzky to run for Prime Minister during his Christmas visit. This is President Trump’s latest comment on Canadian politics, following his quip about Canada becoming the 51st US state and meeting with “Governor” Justin Trudeau.
Trouble at home
Prime Minister Trudeau is under increasing pressure from members of his own party to resign.
He flew to Florida in late November to meet with President Trump after Republicans first vowed to impose new tariffs on Canada.
A spokesperson for LeBlanc’s office said the ministers had “recognized the discussions that took place during the prime minister’s meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, as well as the positive previous ministers had with Tom Homan.” I look forward to moving forward with discussions based on the meeting.” this month. “
LeBlanc said last week that he planned to meet with President Trump’s next “border czar” Homan after Christmas to discuss Canada’s border security plans.
Canada has a billion-dollar plan to strengthen border security. LeBlanc said he discussed some aspects of the plan with U.S. officials last week and said he was optimistic, but said much work still needs to be done.
How is the trade deficit considered?
President Trump also took issue with the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, mistakenly referring to it as a subsidy.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, said the United States had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year.
But he noted that a third of what Canada sells to the United States is energy exports, creating a deficit when oil prices are high. Approximately 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports and 85 percent of U.S. electricity imports come from Canada.
Approximately Cdn 3.6 billion worth of goods and services cross borders every day. Canada is also the largest export destination for 36 U.S. states.
US President-elect Donald Trump has said Canada needs to crack down on fentanyl flowing across its border. But experts say this is not a serious problem and that President Trump is serious about pushing Canada to strengthen its money laundering laws.
The two U.S. land borders have vastly different migration flows and drug seizures.
Last year, U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border and 21,100 pounds at the Mexico border.
Regarding immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million migrant encounters at the southwest border with Mexico from October 2023 to September 2024. By comparison, there were 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during this period.
