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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has warned President-elect Donald Trump that imposing a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports would hurt not only Canada but also American families, as companies would be forced to raise prices on essential goods.
Trudeau made the case during a dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Friday, part of a last-ditch effort to dissuade Trump from enacting sweeping tariffs targeting both Canada and Mexico.
“The prime minister of course spoke about the importance of protecting the Canadian economy and Canadian workers from tariffs,” Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner, told Parliament. “But we also discussed with our American friends the negative impact that those tariffs could have on their economy, on affordability in the United States.”
Trump’s tariff threat is aimed at pressuring Canada and Mexico to curb the flow of drugs and migrants into the U.S. However, Trudeau emphasized that the Canadian border is markedly different from the U.S.-Mexico border in terms of drug trafficking and migration.
Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, echoed this point, saying, “The message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood.” Hillman noted that U.S. customs agents seized just 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared to over 21,000 pounds at the southern border with Mexico.
Despite Trudeau’s diplomatic efforts, Trump has not backed down. In a social media post last week, he reiterated his intent to impose tariffs if Canada and Mexico fail to meet his demands, which include curbing drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum responded by defending Mexico’s cultural contributions and criticizing Canada’s drug issues, saying, “Mexico must be respected, especially by its trading partners.”
Economists warn that tariffs could trigger price increases on everything from fresh produce to automobiles, undermining Trump’s campaign promise to combat inflation. The Produce Distributors Association warned that fresh fruit and vegetable prices would rise, while Canada is already preparing retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.
Trudeau described the talks as “productive,” but he returned to Canada without any assurances that Trump would abandon the proposed tariffs. Still, LeBlanc pushed back on the notion that the meeting was a failure. “The idea that we came back empty-handed is completely false,” he said.
With $2.7 billion in goods crossing the U.S.-Canada border daily and Canada supplying key resources like crude oil and critical minerals, the stakes are high for both economies. The looming tariff battle could test U.S.-Canada relations and affect American consumers in the months ahead.
