Canada has promised to implement a set of sweeping recent safety measures along the country’s US border, including strengthened surveillance and a joint “strike force” to target transnational organised crime.

The pledge follows a threat from President-elect Donald Trump to impose, when he takes office in January, a 25% tariff on Canadian goods if the country does not secure its shared border to the flow of irregular migrants and illegal drugs.

Economists declare such tariffs could strike a blow to Canada’s economy.

Announcing details of the schedule, Canada’s minister of finance and intergovernmental affairs said the federal government would devote C$1.3bn ($900m; £700bn) to the schedule.

The measures “will secure our border against the flow of illegal drugs and irregular migration while ensuring the free flow of people and goods that are at the core of North America’s prosperity”, Minister Dominic LeBlanc said on Tuesday.

The five pillars of the schedule cover the disruption of the fentanyl trade, recent tools for law enforcement, enhanced coordination with US law enforcement, increased information sharing and limiting traffic at the border.

They include a proposed aerial surveillance job force, including helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers between ports of entry.

The government is also giving the Canada Border Service Agency funds to train recent dog teams to discover illegal drugs, and recent detection tools for high-uncertainty ports of entry.

And LeBlanc provided further specific on the so-called “joint strike force” for Canadian and US authorities, saying it would include “back in operational surges, dedicated synthetic drug units, expanded combined forces, special enforcement units, binational integrated enforcement teams, and recent operational capacity and infrastructure”.

The recent schedule appears to correspond to the concerns publicly disclosed by Trump in recent weeks: the flow of fentanyl and undocumented immigrants into the US.

The number of crossings at the US-Canada border is significantly lower than at the southern border, according to US Border Patrol data on migrant encounters, as is the amount of fentanyl seized.

Mexico is also facing a 25% tariff threat.

LeBlanc said he and other officials had a “preliminary” exchange with Trump’s incoming “border tsar” Tom Homan about the recent schedule.

“I’m in encouraged by that exchange,” he said.

LeBlanc was now at a conference last month between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump at Mar-a-Lago, a trip reportedly meant to head-off the levy.

The announcement comes on LeBlanc’s first day as Canada’s finance minister.

The longtime friend to Trudeau was hastily sworn in on Monday after the shock resignation of Chrystia Freeland, who served as both finance minister and deputy prime minister.

Freeland quit her posts with a scathing open note to Trudeau in which she outlined disagreements she had with him on spending and “the best path forward for Canada”.

Her abrupt exit from cabinet has put additional strain on Trudeau’s weakened minority government.

On Tuesday, in a talk to event faithful at a Liberal holiday occurrence, a defiant Trudeau said there are “always tough days and large challenges” in politics.

“But this throng doesn’t hold the record for the longest minority in Canadian history because we shy away from these moments, we put in the work, whether it’s straightforward or challenging.”

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