Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Florida to meet Donald Trump as Canada seeks to block the president-elect’s threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, a source confirmed to the BBC.
Canadian media reported Trudeau landed at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday night to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The two spoke by phone earlier this week after Trump announced that, upon taking office in January, he would impose a comprehensive tariff on all products entering the US from Mexico and Canada.
Neither the prime minister’s office nor Trump’s team responded to requests for comment on the visit.
The trip was not on Mr. Trudeau’s public schedule on Friday. The source said the two will have dinner.
Trump attended the meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate with his transition team. Trudeau is believed to be the first G7 leader to visit the president-elect since the election.
Trudeau has often emphasized that the two countries were able to successfully renegotiate a major trade agreement during Trump’s first term, even though the relationship between the two leaders was at times difficult.
On Friday, speaking at an event in Prince Edward Island, Trudeau said the two countries “roll up their sleeves and can create jobs on both sides of the border.”
He said he looked forward to having many “great” conversations with Trump.
The visit to Florida is Canada’s latest move as it seeks to avoid heavy tariffs, which could cause widespread economic impact.
It remains unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will actually proceed with the threatened tariffs, as analysts note that the president-elect has previously used such threats as a Negotiation tactics to achieve your goals.
Trump – who has also threatened similar tariffs on Mexico – has signaled they will stay in place until both countries work to secure their common border with the US.
Trudeau said Friday that “when Trump makes statements like that, he has a plan to follow through on them.”
He said his goal was to show that tariffs would not only hurt Canadians but also increase prices for Americans and harm that country’s economy.
Accompanying Mr. Trudeau on the trip was Dominic LeBlanc, minister in charge of border security.
American media reported that Trudeau and Trump had dinner with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Commerce; Doug Burgum, appointed to lead the Department of the Interior; and Mike Waltz, who has been selected as the next national security adviser.
Canada is one of the US’s largest trading partners and exports about 75% of its total exports to the US. The two countries also share deeply integrated supply chains.
After his call with Trump, Trudeau held an emergency meeting Wednesday with the leaders of Canada’s provinces and territories on how to manage the U.S.-Canada relationship.
Trudeau promised to present a unified “Team Canada” approach to working with the United States to fight the tariffs.
Some leaders of Canadian provinces criticized Trump’s plansaid it would devastate the country’s economy, including the oil, gas and auto industries.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also had a phone call with Trump this week.
According to U.S. Border Patrol data on migrant encounters, the number of crossings at the U.S.-Canada border is significantly lower than at the southern border.
In fiscal year 2024, there were approximately 23,700 arrests at the northern land border, while the southern border had more than 1.53 million arrests.
However, Canadian officials in recent days have said there is still more work to be done collectively to improve border security.
