Trudeau's Remarks to Trump at Mar-a-Lago
On Friday night, discussions focused on trade, energy, and the Arctic, with Canada expressing hope that this is merely the beginning of an ongoing dialogue.
Later that day, Trudeau arrived in Florida and headed to Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club for a dinner meeting with the president-elect. This meeting marked an unexpected conclusion to a week that began with Trump issuing a statement on Truth Social: “a 25% Tariff on ALL products” from Canada and Mexico would be enacted immediately upon his return to the White House.
The looming tariffs sparked urgent discussions in Ottawa, prompting a special Cabinet meeting, an evening teleconference between Trudeau and his provincial counterparts, and a press conference where Ontario Premier Doug Ford likened the threat to “a family member stabbing you in the heart.”
Trudeau’s office provided few details about the nearly three-hour bilateral conversation. “The Prime Minister and U.S. President Donald Trump shared a productive wide-ranging discussion over dinner last night, centered on collaboration and strengthening our relationship,” they stated on Saturday.
Privately, however, a senior government official characterized the encounter as "very friendly, very positive," mentioning that topics included trade, border security, pipelines, defense spending, and the G7.
Trump was more open about the “very productive meeting,” highlighting discussions on energy, trade, and the Arctic. “We discussed many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address, like the Fentanyl and Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration, Fair Trade Deals that do not jeopardize American Workers, and the massive Trade Deficit the U.S. has with Canada,” Trump shared on Truth Social.
“Too much death and hardship!” he continued. “Prime Minister Trudeau has made a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation of U.S. Families.”
As of November 6, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl seized at the northern border in 2024. The estimated U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada is expected to reach around $55 billion in 2024, down from approximately $78 billion in 2022.
“There’s no question President-elect Donald Trump plans to slap Canada with 25 percent tariffs,” Trudeau stated on Friday morning. “When he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out.”
Trudeau and his team are keen to demonstrate their capability to handle Trump 2.0 effectively. With their three-term minority Liberal government trailing in the polls and an election anticipated in the fall of 2025, if not sooner, the stakes are high.
At the same time, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre holds more than a 20-point lead in the polls, repeatedly claiming that “Canada is broken” and recently promoting a “Canada first” agenda.
The tension over Trump’s border policies has emboldened Poilievre to criticize the government. “Justin Trudeau broke the border,” he declared last week. “We didn't have these problems before Justin Trudeau.”
During an emergency parliamentary debate, Deputy Conservative Leader Melissa Lantsman chastised the Liberals for their perceived lack of access to Trump. “Has anybody on that side of the House, anybody in the Prime Minister's Office or anybody anywhere else thought to continue the relationships with the president-elect's team since 2020?” she questioned. “Has anybody thought to build relationships with members of the U.S. House or the U.S. Senate, or with anybody of importance in Washington?”
Canada's ambassador to the U.S., Kirsten Hillman, was part of the delegation at Mar-a-Lago on Friday. Over the past year, she has traveled throughout the U.S. to remind those willing to listen that the U.S. needs Canada.
This was a point Trudeau aimed to communicate directly to Trump. On Friday morning, he stressed to reporters that, in response to Trump’s tariff threat, Canada must highlight that “he would be actually not just harming Canadians who work so well with the United States. He [would] actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and businesses.”
According to the senior government official, dinner was merely the beginning of their discussions. "The trading relationship between Canada and the U.S. is one of the most important trading relationships in the world and it can’t get resolved in one dinner,” the official stated on Saturday. “Obviously there’s still more work to be done.”
Alejandro Jose Martinez contributed to this report for TROIB News