Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau in a meeting in 2019. Photo: Frank Augstein / AP / Profimedia
Canada’s new finance minister Dominic LeBlanc and foreign minister Melanie Joly met with advisers to US President-elect Donald Trump in Florida on Friday as Canada seeks to avoid a future economic war with the US .
The meeting comes after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian imports when he takes office in January if he does not reduce the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the United States, Reuters notes.
LeBlanc’s office said in a statement after the meeting that he had a “positive and productive” engagement with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s choice for Commerce Secretary, and Doug Burgum, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the Interior.
LeBlanc’s office had said a day earlier that the two ministers would outline “the negative impact that the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods would have on Canada and the United States.”
The meeting focused on Canada’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration, and the ministers highlighted Canada’s efforts in this direction, while agreeing to continue discussions in the coming weeks, the statement Canadiana added on Friday.
Earlier this month, the Canadian government pledged to invest C$1.3 billion (US$902 million) in border security over six years as part of a plan that focuses on surveillance, intelligence and technology.
Friday’s meeting came as Trump continues to poke fun at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has a precarious political position in the country, on social media.
On Christmas Day, he referred to the head of this ally of the United States as being “Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada” and suggested again that the country would become the 51st state of the United States.
Trudeau, whose party looks set to lose power early next year, is under increasing pressure from lawmakers in his own party to resign.
He was flying to Florida in late November to meet Trumpafter the Republican promised to impose new tariffs on Canada.
