Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Florida to meet Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago estate as tariff threats loom

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Florida on Friday for a dinner with Donald Trump at the President-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate, as the incoming US leader promised tariffs on Canadian imports.

The unannounced meeting came at the end of a week that has seen Canada and Mexico scramble to blunt the impact of Trump’s trade threats, which experts have warned could also hit US consumers hard.

A smiling Trudeau was seen exiting a hotel in West Palm Beach before arriving at Mar-a-Lago, making him the latest high-profile guest of Trump, whose impending second term – which starts in January – is already overshadowing the last few months of President Joe Biden’s administration.

Flight trackers had first spotted a jet broadcasting the Prime Minister’s callsign making its way to the southern US state. A Canadian Government source later told AFP that the two leaders were dining together.

Trump caused panic among some of the biggest US trading partners on Monday when he said he would impose tariffs of 25% on Mexican and Canadian imports and 10% on goods from China.

Former US President Donald Trump during a campaign event in Greensboro, North Carolina. Photo / Getty Images

He accused the countries of not doing enough to halt the “invasion” of the United States by drugs, “in particular fentanyl,” and undocumented migrants.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Wednesday, though the two leaders’ accounts of the conversation differed drastically.

Trump claimed that Mexico’s left-wing president had “agreed to stop migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”

Sheinbaum later said she had discussed US-supported anti-migration policies that have long been in place in Mexico.

She said that after that, the talks had no longer revolved around the threat of tariff hikes, downplaying the risk of a trade war.

Billions in trade

Biden warned that same day that Trump’s tariff threats could “screw up” Washington’s relationships with Ottawa and Mexico City.

“I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do,” Biden told reporters.

Trudeau did not respond to questions from the media as he returned to his hotel Friday evening after meeting with Trump.

But for Canada, the stakes of any new tariffs are high.

More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion (US$423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.

A Canadian government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.

Some have suggested Trump’s tariff threat may be bluster or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province.

“Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said. “There’s no question about it.”

According to the website Flightradar, the Canadian leader’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport late Friday afternoon.

Canadian public broadcaster CBC said that Trudeau’s Public Safety Minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was accompanying him on the trip.

-Agence France-Presse