OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s team came away from a Mar-a-Lago Friday night dinner with Donald Trump with no guarantee but believing it is possible for Canada to escape his 25-per-cent tariff threat if the Liberal government can address the president-elect’s concerns on border security.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc who accompanied Trudeau to Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Fla. told reporters the Canadians believed there is a “a lot of openness on the part of Mr. Trump and his future ministers or secretaries” to Canada’s arguments — which included the impact on American consumers and “affordability” south of the border. But LeBlanc stressed it was the “beginning of a conversation.”
A senior government official with knowledge of the discussions with Trump said that the president-elect was clear his focus is on stopping illegal immigration and, equally, any flow of illegal drugs especially fentanyl, and also clear that he likes tariffs and dislikes trade deficits.
Trudeau, the source said, went into the meeting aiming to make a few key points — that Canada is not the same source of problems as Trump believes Mexico is, and that the trade deficit figures don’t tell a fuller story about how key Canada’s energy exports are to U.S. energy security.
At the end of the meeting, the Canadians were glad to have had three hours to make their points, and came away with a sense that there may be a way to get a reprieve from tariffs, but the insider said, “we’re not there yet as of this moment.”
Trudeau did not offer Trump numbers or specifics on planned spending, or deployment of more border resources. He did tell Trump that Canada wants to work with his incoming administration on border issues, and would be spending more to boost helicopter patrols, drone and other surveillance technology and more staffing along the Canada-U.S. border.
Now the Canadian team believes the onus is on Ottawa to show progress in the next several weeks.
A big part of the value of the trip, the Liberals say, was opening channels of communication with Trump and others within his circle of advisers.
Joining Trump at the table was his nominee for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, his nominee for Interior Secretary North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, and national security adviser Mike Walz, who jotted notes as Trudeau spoke on a notepad, the official said.
At one point, the official said, the U.S. anthem Star-Spangled Banner played in the room, and everyone stood to sing; the Canadians also stood, but didn’t sing.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller told the Star the Trudeau-Trump meeting was a chance to discuss both countries’ concerns about border problems.
“We have to show them, and they also have to show us. I mean, it’s a two way street. So we have concerns about that border,” he said “And they have concerns about what they perceive to be going on here. As we’ve said, it doesn’t compare to the Mexican border, but certainly it’s something that we have to work on.”
“I think that’s the point that needs to be retained in all this, it’ll be a moving conversation,” Miller said.
Defence Minister Bill Blair said he did not believe Trump applied new pressure on Trudeau to hasten his defence spending plans. “Certainly nothing in the briefing suggests to me that that was part of their discussion.”
In a statement on Sunday, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre validated and echoed Trump’s view that the “border is broken” citing a litany of what he said were failures on the Trudeau government’s part. Other Conservatives like deputy leader Melissa Lantsman echoed the line in the House of Commons Monday. Saskatchewan Conservative MP Brad Redekopp said “the Prime Minister went to Mar-a-Lago to kiss the ring and returned with absolutely nothing.”
The NDP’s Alexandre Boulerice and Blake Desjarlais said Trudeau returned with “nothing to show for it and he came back empty-handed.”
LeBlanc dismissed the criticisms, saying “I think the commitment from President Trump to continue to work with us was far from empty-handed.”
Late Monday, ahead of a meeting of the Canada-U.S. cabinet committee, Treasury Board President Anita Anand blasted criticisms that suggested Trudeau “kissed the ring.”
“That’s a very facile understanding of negotiation and diplomatic relationships,” she said. “The importance of building and continuing to build relationships on both sides of the border will underpin our negotiating position going forward.
“I know that the Prime Minister had a good meeting with President Trump, and that builds on the relationship that they already had. Furthermore, the fact that Minister LeBlanc was in attendance suggests the further investments that we will be making in our borders.”
The dinner at Mar-a-Lago came after Trudeau suggested to Trump when they spoke after the future president’s infamous social media post on Nov. 25.
The Canadian official said Trudeau asked Trump to meet to talk things through, and offered to go to Mar-a-Lago before the president-elect’s inauguration. It was Trump who suggested Trudeau go to Florida Friday. Trump’s team, however, had requested the meeting not be made public until the dinner started, the source said, suggesting there may have been scheduling or other reasons the Americans didn’t want to confirm it, as it is a pattern they have followed.
