Trudeau told Trump Americans would also suffer if tariffs are imposed, a Canadian minister says

AP (Toronto) According to a Canadian official who attended their recent meal, Prime official Justin Trudeau informed Donald Trump that if the president-elect implements his plan to put broad tariffs on Canadian goods, Americans will also suffer.

If Canada and Mexico don’t halt what he dubbed the flow of people and narcotics across their borders with the United States, Trump threatened to levy tariffs on their products. Last week, he said on social media 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.

On Friday, Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who oversees border security, joined Trump and Trudeau for dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.

By persuading Trump that the northern border is nothing like the southern border with Mexico, Trudeau asked for the meeting in an attempt to get around the tariffs.

As LeBlanc stated in Parliament, “We also talked with our American friends about the negative impact that those tariffs could have on their economy, on affordability in the United States as well.” The prime minister, of course, spoke about the importance of protecting the Canadian economy and workers from tariffs.

Trump’s campaign pledge to protect American people from inflation will be undermined if he follows through on his vow to impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico.

According to economists, businesses would be forced to pass on the increased expenses, sharply increasing the pricing of things like food, clothing, cars, and alcohol.

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Last Monday, a Washington-based trade group called the Produce Distributors Association stated that tariffs will increase the cost of fresh produce and harm American farmers when the nations retaliate.

If Trump’s threat materializes, Canada is already considering potential retaliation taxes on specific U.S. goods.

Trudeau came home after his meal with Trump without receiving any guarantees that the president-elect will renounce the proposed tariffs on all goods from the main trading partner of the United States. Although Trump described the negotiations as fruitful, he showed no retraction from a promise that Canada claims unjustly compares it to Mexico about the flow of people and narcotics into the US.

According to LeBlanc, the notion that we returned empty-handed is wholly untrue. Our conversation with Mr. Trump and his prospective Cabinet members was really fruitful. Mr. Trump’s pledge to keep cooperating with us was by no means in vain.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s candidate to head the Interior Department, Mike Waltz, Trump’s choice to be his national security adviser, and Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, joined Trump and Trudeau for dinner.

Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, told The Associated Press on Sunday that people truly got the message that our border differs greatly from the Mexican border. When it comes to drugs and migrants, Hillman, who was seated at the table next to Trudeau and Trump, claimed Canada is not the issue.

The president of Mexico denied the remarks on Monday.

According to President Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico needs respect, particularly from its business partners. She claimed that Canada could only hope it had Mexico’s cultural wealth because it has its own issues with fentanyl use.

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Drug seizures and migratory flows at the two nations’ borders differ greatly. During the previous 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.

Mexican drug gangs employ precursor chemicals that are imported from Asia to make the majority of the fentanyl that enters the United States, where it causes over 70,000 overdose deaths every year.

In terms of immigration, between October 2023 and September 2024, the U.S. Border Patrol recorded 1.53 million interactions with migrants at the southwest border with Mexico. During that period, there were 23,721 interactions at the Canadian border.

For 36 U.S. states, Canada is their biggest export destination. Every day, goods and services valued at around $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) pass the border. About 85% of the power and 60% of the crude oil imported into the United States come from Canada.

In addition to having 34 vital minerals and metals that the Pentagon is interested in and investing in for national security, Canada is the United States’ top foreign supplier of steel, aluminum, and uranium.

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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