Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Florida at Mar-a-Lago and is expected to meet with President-elect Donald Trump tonight, according to multiple sources.
The much-anticipated meeting comes after Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada until both countries cut off the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States.
Trudeau told reporters this week after he and Trump spoke on the phone that they had a “good call” after the tariff threat. He added that he is looking forward to “many great conversations” with Trump.
President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the White House in Washington on October 11, 2017.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The prime minister has cited the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or UMSCA, negotiations as a sign that he can work with Trump on trade and avoid a trade war.
The USMCA went into effect in 2020 after Trump signed it and was designed to provide mostly duty-free trade between the US, Canada and Mexico. Trump’s tariff threats could put that deal in jeopardy.
The terms of the USMCA allowed for renegotiation after six years, in 2026, though experts told ABC News that the tariff threat could be an effort to increase that negotiation window.
However, some experts said ABC News’ Selina Wang and Karen Travers said the threat won’t work in a second Trump term because “it’s the same playbook the second time around. If you’re on the football field and you call the same play twice, it’s not going to be as effective the second time.”
Tariffs could also significantly increase post-Trump commodity prices he ran his campaign lowering too high inflation.
Trudeau spoke with Trump on Monday, November 25, after Trump announced the first day of tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as China, the US’s top three trading partners.
“We talked about the challenges we can work on together,” he told reporters on the call. “We know a relationship takes some work, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Trudeau’s plane touched down at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday ahead of an expected dinner with the president-elect at Mar-a-Lago. according to reports.
