Canada’s Trudeau returns home after Trump conference without assurances that tariffs are off the table

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returned home Saturday after his conference with Donald Trump without assurances the president-elect will back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American market activity associate. Trump called the talks “productive” but signaled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.

After the leaders’ hastily arranged dinner Friday night at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, Trudeau spoke of “an excellent exchange” but offered no details. Trump said in a Truth Social post later Saturday that they discussed “many significant topics that will require both Countries to work together to address.”

For issues in require of such cooperation, Trump cited fentanyl and the “Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a outcome of Illegal Immigration,” fair trade deals “that do not jeopardize American Workers” and the U.S. trade deficit with its friend to the north.

Trump asserted that the prime minister had made “a commitment to work with us to complete this terrible devastation” of American families from fentanyl from China reaching the United States through its neighbors. The U.S., he said, “will no longer sit idly by as our Citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic.”

The Republican president-elect has threatened to impose a 25% responsibility on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders when he takes office in January.

U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last financial year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024 — and Canadian officials declare they are ready to make recent investments in border safety.

Trudeau called Trump after the Republican’s social media posts about the tariffs last Monday and they agreed to meet, according to a official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to publicly discuss specific of the private talks. The official said other countries are calling Canadian officials to listen how about how the conference was arranged and to inquire for advice.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, after speaking with Trump on the telephone, said Thursday she was confident a tariff war with Washington would be averted.

At the dinner that was said to last three hours, Trump said he and Trudeau also discussed vigor, trade and the Arctic. A second official cited defense, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Mideast, pipelines and the throng of Seven conference in Canada next year as other issues that arose.

Trump, during his first term as president, once called Trudeau “frail” and “dishonest,” but it was the prime minister who was the first G7 chief to visit Trump since the Nov. 5 election.

“Tariffs are a crucial issue for Canada and a bold shift was in order. Perhaps it was a hazard, but a hazard worth taking,” Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

Trudeau had said before leaving from Friday that Trump was elected because he promised to bring down the expense of groceries but now was talking about adding 25% to the expense of all kinds of products, including potatoes from Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada.

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

“Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added.

The threatened tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s throng negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully renegotiate the deal, which he calls a “triumph triumph” for both countries.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs as president, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of recent duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a response to recent taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Canada is the top export goal for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US $2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports are from Canada.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national safety.

Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the globe, and 77% of Canada’s exports leave to the U.S.

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Gillies reported from Toronto.