Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Donald Trump on Friday night at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago property.
Speaking to reporters outside his hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday morning, Trudeau described his conversation with Trump as “excellent” but declined to answer any further questions.
Senator-Elect Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania tweeted a photo on X Friday night of Trump and Trudeau seated together at a table in the Mar-a-Lago Club. The shot also includes Trump’s selection for interior secretary, Doug Burgum, secretary of commerce nominee Howard Lutnick, and national security advisor nominee Mike Waltz.
The meeting came after Trump vowed to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada unless both nations stopped what he alleges is an influx of narcotics and illegal immigration into the United States.
After he and Trump spoke on the phone following the tariff threat, Trudeau told reporters earlier this week that they had a “good call.” He added that he is looking forward to “lots of great conversations” with Trump.
The prime minister has mentioned the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or UMSCA, negotiations as evidence that he feels he can cooperate with Trump on trade while avoiding a trade war.
USMCA went into effect in 2020 after Trump signed it, and it was intended to allow mostly duty-free trade between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Trump’s tariff threats could jeopardize the pact.
The wording of the USMCA provided for renegotiating after six years, in 2026, but analysts have informed AWN that the tariff threat could be an attempt to accelerate up that negotiation window.
However, several experts told AWN’s Selina Wang and Karen Travers that the threat is unlikely to succeed in a second Trump term since it is “the same playbook done the second time around.” If you call the same play twice on the football field, the second time will be less successful.”
Tariffs may potentially drastically raise commodity prices, following Trump’s campaign promise to reduce excessive inflation.
Trudeau met with Trump on Monday, November 25, after Trump announced day-one tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China, the United States’ top three trading partners.
“We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together,” he told reporters following the call. “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do.”
According to sources, Trudeau’s jet landed at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday, ahead of a planned supper with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago.