AP (Toronto) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was successful in persuading President-elect Donald Trump and important Cabinet members that it is unjust to associate Canada with Mexico over the flow of migrants and narcotics into the United States, according to Canada’s ambassador to the United States on Sunday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, stated that Trudeau’s dinner with Trump on Friday was a crucial step in attempting to persuade him to rescind the planned tariffs on all goods from the main trading partner of the United States.
Hillman sat at a table next to Trump and Trudeau at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
If Canada and Mexico don’t halt what he dubbed the flow of people and narcotics across their borders, Trump threatened to levy taxes on their products. In a social media post last Monday, he said that one of his first executive orders would be to levy a 25% tax on all goods coming into the United States from Canada and Mexico.
According to Hillman, Trump invited Trudeau to dinner on Friday and Trudeau called him on Monday to request a face-to-face meeting.
Hillman claimed that during the dinner, Trump was informed that the borders of Canada and Mexico cannot be compared.
According to Hillman, the message that our border differs greatly from the Mexican border was truly understood.
According to Hillman, the main topic of conversation at Friday night’s meal was Trump’s border issues. The ambassador claimed that highlighting the extent of the disparity was one of Trudeau’s top priorities.
There is virtually little fentanyl trafficking from Canada to the US, according to Hillman, who stated there is no resemblance. According to her, seizures do occur, but they are classified as personal use seizures rather than illegal trafficking. According to her, 99.8% of the fentanyl that American law enforcement has found in the United States originates from Mexico.
According to Hillman, less than 1% of all crossings from Canada last year were persons who were crossing the country illegally, accounting for 0.6% of all interceptions.
Last fiscal year, U.S. customs officers found 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, while they found 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. According to Hillman, the number of migrants has been declining throughout the summer. 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.
According to Hillman, it is difficult to dispute the facts.
However, Hillman stated that more law enforcement agents, drones, and helicopters are planned, and that Canada is prepared to make fresh expenditures in border security.
She also mentioned a deal between the US and Canada that permits the repatriation of migrants who are apprehended entering the US illegally. According to her, that was discussed. According to her, there is no comparable agreement between the United States and Mexico.
Hillman said that the three-hour supper also increased the United States’ trade deficit with Canada. Although a third of Canada’s exports to the United States are energy exports, and prices have been high, Hillman pointed out that the United States and Canada had a $75 billion trade deficit last year.
He concentrates on trade balances, so it’s critical to have that discussion while providing context, Hillman stated.
Since we are ten times smaller than the US, a balanced trade agreement would result in us purchasing ten times as much from the US as they do from us. If that’s his metric, we’ll definitely work on it.
Howard Lutnick, Trump’s choice for commerce secretary, Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, Trump’s choice for energy czar and head of the Interior Department, Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice for national security adviser, and the wives of the three men joined Trump and Trudeau for dinner.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who oversees border security, Trudeau’s chief of staff Katie Telford, newly elected U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania David McCormick and his wife Dina Powell, a former Trump deputy national security adviser, were also present at the dinner.
According to Hillman, officials from the incoming Trump administration and Canada will address Trump’s concerns in the upcoming weeks. In a social media tweet on Sunday, Trump referred to the negotiations as fruitful but made no indication that he would back down from his tariff promise.
According to Hillman, Trump and Trudeau got along well, and the dinner served as an opportunity to mingle. She claimed that Trump played music on his iPad and informed Trudeau that he greatly admires Canadian singer Celine Dion.
To be honest, I don’t think it could have been better. Alright, I will retract and amend that. It would have been preferable if he had stated unequivocally that there would be no tariffs, but Hillman stated that there was no realistic hope of that.
The Associated Press, 2024. All rights reserved. All rights reserved. It is prohibited to publish, broadcast, rewrite, or redistribute this content without authorization.
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