Canada’s ambassador to the United States said Sunday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has succeeded in convincing President-elect Donald Trump and key Cabinet candidates to understand that including Canada with Mexico on the drug problem Drugs and immigrants entering America is unfair.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, told The Associated Press in an interview that Trudeau dinner with Trump on Friday is a very important step in trying to get Trump to back off Threat of tariffson all products from major US trading partners.
Hillman was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and sat at a table next to Trudeau and Trump.
Trump threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they did not stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said in a social media post last Monday that he would impose a 25% tariff on all products. into America from Canada and Mexico was one of his first executive orders.
Hillman said Trudeau asked to meet Trump in person in a phone call on Monday and Trump invited him to dinner on Friday.
During the dinner, Hillman said the case made to Trump was that there was no comparison between the Canada-US border and the Mexico-US border.
“The message that our border is very different from the Mexican border really got through,” Hillman said.
Hillman said much of Friday night’s dinner revolved around Trump’s border concerns. The ambassador said Trudeau’s priority is to show the extent of the differences.
Hillman said there’s really no comparison, noting there is essentially no fentanyl smuggling from Canada to the United States. She said there were confiscations, but authorities said they were confiscations for personal purposes, not criminal trafficking. She said 99.8% of the fentanyl seized by US authorities in the US came from Mexico.
“Also in regards to individuals, individuals crossing the border illegally, Canada last year was less than 1%, 0.6% of the total interceptions from Canada,” Hillman said.
U.S. customs authorities seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024 – and Hillman said the number of migrants has been decreasing since the summer.
“The truth is hard to deny,” Hillman said.
But Hillman said Canada is ready to make new investments in border security and plans to add more helicopters, drones and law enforcement officers.
She also noted an agreement between Canada and the United States that allows migrants caught illegally crossing the border into the United States to be returned to Canada. She said that had been talked about. She said Mexico and the United States do not have a similar agreement.
During the three-hour dinner, Hillman said the U.S. trade deficit with Canada also increased. Hillman said the U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year but noted that a third of what Canada sells to the U.S. are energy exports and prices are high.
“The trade balance is something he focuses on so it’s important to engage in that conversation but put it in context,” Hillman said.
“We are one-tenth the size of the US, so a balanced trade deal would mean that per capita we would buy 10 times more from the US than they buy from us. If that’s his measure, we’ll definitely be on board with that.”
Joining Trump and Trudeau at the dinner were Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, Mike Waltz, Trump chose as his national security advisor and his three wives.
At dinner there was also David McCormicknewly elected US senator from Pennsylvania, and his wife, Dina Powell, former deputy national security adviser under Trump, as well as Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include security border, and Katie Telford, Trudeau’s chief of staff.
Hillman said Canadian officials and the incoming Trump administration will address Trump’s concerns in the coming weeks. Trump called talk “effectively” on Sunday in a social media post but appeared not to back down on its tariff pledge.
Hillman said Trump and Trudeau “get along very well” and the dinner was also an opportunity to socialize. She said Trump used his iPad to play music, and she said Trump told Trudeau he was a big fan of Canadian singer Celine Dion.
“I don’t think it’s better to be honest. Okay, I’ll take it back, I’ll change it. If he said clearly there would be no tariffs it would be better but there is no realistic expectation of that,” Hillman said.
Canada is the top export destination for 36 US states. Nearly $3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) worth of Canadian goods and services cross the border every day.
About 60% of US crude oil imports come from Canada and 85% of US electricity imports come from Canada.
Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the US and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon desires and invests in for national security.
Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world and 77% of Canadian exports go to the US
