FLORIDA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, ahead of a meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort, according to media reports.
Trudeau’s public itinerary does not list a scheduled visit to Florida. Neither Trudeau’s office nor Trump’s representatives immediately responded to requests for comment.
Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper, citing two unidentified sources, reported that Trudeau was in Florida to meet with Trump.
CNN, citing a source, later reported that Trump was going to have dinner with Trudeau on Friday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc is traveling with Trudeau, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Trump threatened Monday to impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico until the countries clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border.
Officials from Mexico, Canada and China, along with major industry groups, have warned that the hefty tariffs threatened by Trump would harm the economies of all countries involved, cause inflation to spike and damage job markets.
Any hit to the Canadian economy would add to Trudeau’s woes at a time when his popularity has sunk in part due to a slowing economy and a rapid surge in the cost of living over the past few years.
Polls show Trudeau’s Liberals would lose to the opposition Conservative party in an election that must be held by late October 2025.
Trudeau this week pledged to stay united against Trump’s tariffs threat and called a meeting with the premiers of all 10 Canadian provinces to discuss U.S. relations.
Canada is the world’s fourth-largest oil producer and sixth-largest natural gas producer. The vast majority of its 4 million barrels per day of crude exports go to the U.S.
Trump’s plan does not exempt crude oil from the trade penalties, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters on Tuesday.
(VOA)
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