Trump representatives meet with Canadian officials in Florida as tariff war looms
Palm Beach, Florida - Key members of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet traveled to Florida on Thursday for talks with representatives of President-elect Donald Trump, in an effort to avert a potentially devastating trade war.
Newly appointed Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc and Foreign Minister Melanie Joly flew to Palm Beach "to meet with officials from the incoming Trump administration," Leblanc's spokesperson Jean-Sebastien Comeau said in a statement sent to AFP.
Trump has vowed to impose punishing 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports when he takes office next month.
Trudeau has promised retaliatory measures should Trump follow through on his pledge, without providing specifics.
Trump has said the tariffs will remain in place until Canada addresses the flow of immigrants and fentanyl into the US. He has also repeatedly mocked Trudeau as "Governor" of a country he suggested should become a US state.
The meetings set for Friday will "focus on Canada's efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration," the statement said.
The ministers will brief Trump's team on Canada's new $694-million border security plan, which was devised in response to the tariff threat, and will also address "the negative impacts that the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods would have on both Canada and the United States."
There was no mention of whom the Canadian officials would specifically be meeting.
Canada's Trudeau under pressure
Trudeau's envoys headed to Florida as his government confronts an escalating crisis.
Leblanc was named finance minister earlier this month after the surprise resignation of Chrystia Freeland, who was also deputy prime minister.
In a scathing resignation letter, Freeland accused Trudeau of focusing on shortsighted handouts to voters instead of preparing Canada's finances to confront Trump's possible tariffs.
With his Liberal government trailing badly in polls to the Conservatives, some of Trudeau's former allies in parliament have urged him to resign.
Cover photo: Collage: REUTERS