TORONTO — Two Canadian ministers departed from a meeting at Mar-a-Lago on Friday without clear commitments from President-elect Donald Trump regarding his threats to impose tariffs on Canadian imports.
The Canadian officials characterized the discussions as “productive,” indicating that further conversations would take place. However, one source remarked that the U.S. remains focused on the trade deficit with Canada, a topic of contention in these negotiations.
Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who has been chosen to oversee the Interior Department.
Trump has warned of a potential 25% tariff on Canadian goods, suggesting this action would be taken unless Canada mitigates what he claims to be a significant flow of migrants and fentanyl crossing into the U.S. Nevertheless, statistics show that far fewer individuals and substances enter the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which has also faced Trump’s threats.
“Ministers LeBlanc and Joly had a positive and productive meeting with Lutnick and Burgum at Mar-a-Lago, following the prior dinner between the Prime Minister and President Trump last month,” explained Jean-Sébastien Comeau, LeBlanc’s spokesperson.
Comeau noted that both ministers detailed aspects of Canada’s multi-million-dollar initiative to enhance border security, reaffirming their mutual commitment to strengthen this security and address the fentanyl crisis, which endangers lives on both sides of the border.
While Lutnick and Burgum expressed intentions to communicate these discussions to Trump, a senior Canadian official indicated that U.S. officials remain troubled by the trade deficit and are eager for it to decrease. This official requested anonymity due to restrictions on public commentary regarding the sensitive issue.
Trump has misrepresented the trade deficit, labeling it erroneously as a subsidy. Canada’s ambassador to Washington, Kirsten Hillman, highlighted that the U.S. had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year; she explained that a substantial portion of Canadian exports to the U.S. consists of energy sources, and the dynamics shift with fluctuating oil prices.
Canada supplies approximately 60% of U.S. crude oil imports and 85% of electricity imports. Alberta alone exports around 4.3 million barrels of oil daily to the U.S., where total consumption stands at about 20 million barrels each day.
The Trump transition team did not provide an immediate response to inquiries regarding these discussions. Additional meetings between the two countries are anticipated in the near future, with Joly dining with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham on Friday.
Recently, Trump has taken to social media to mock Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, labeling him as the “Governor of the 51st state.” Trudeau, without addressing the comments directly, shared a link on social media to a video from 2010, in which NBC journalist Tom Brokaw discusses Canada, aiming to enlighten Americans about their northern neighbor.
“Here’s some information about Canada for Americans,” Trudeau commented on the post on X. The segment, originally broadcast during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, elaborates on the similarities between the two nations, their extensive trade relations, and the contributions of the Canadian military during major conflicts such as World War II and Afghanistan.
Brokaw states in the video, “In our darkest hours, Canada has stood alongside us.” He emphasizes that throughout the history of neighboring sovereign nations, none have shared a relationship as close, fruitful, and peaceful as that between the U.S. and Canada.
Trudeau has previously informed Trump that imposing such tariffs on Canadian products would also adversely impact Americans. Every day, goods and services worth nearly $3.6 billion Canadian dollars (approximately $2.7 billion) cross the border, with Canada serving as the primary export destination for 36 U.S. states.
While discussions about migrants and drug seizures continue, the differences between the two borders are stark. U.S. customs reported confiscating only 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border during the previous fiscal year, as opposed to 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.
Most fentanyl entering the U.S. — linked to around 70,000 annual overdose deaths — is produced by Mexican cartels using chemical precursors smuggled from Asia. On the immigration front, the U.S. Border Patrol detailed 1.53 million encounters with migrants at the Mexican southwest border from October 2023 to September 2024, contrasting sharply with just 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during the same period.
