Politics

So how did Trudeau and Trump's dinner meeting go? Here's what we know

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau travelled to Palm Beach, Fla., to meet with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Friday night.

PM travelled to Mar-a-Lago after U.S. president-elect said he would impose hefty tariffs on Canada, Mexico

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Donald Trump are sitting next to each other at a dinner table in Palm Beach, Florida.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dined with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Friday night. Trump described the meeting as 'very productive' on his social media platform Truth Social. (@JustinTrudeau/X)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. president-elect Donald Trump discussed border security and Canada-U.S. trade during a surprise meeting at Trump's estate in Florida on Friday night.

Trudeau flew to Palm Beach, Fla., and visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago, where the president-elect has been meeting with his transition team in recent weeks. The visit came amid Trump's threats to impose steep tariffs on Canadian products entering the United States.

On Saturday, Trump described the meeting as "very productive" on his social media channel Truth Social. In a post, Trump said he and Trudeau discussed the fentanyl and drug crisis, illegal immigration and Canada-U.S. trade.

"I made it very clear that the United States will no longer sit idly by as our Citizens become victims to the scourge of this Drug Epidemic, caused mainly by the Drug Cartels, and Fentanyl pouring in from China," he wrote.

"We also spoke about many other important topics like Energy, Trade, and the Arctic," Trump added. "All are vital issues that I will be addressing on my first days back in Office, and before."

A screenshot of a Trump post
Trump described his meeting with Trudeau as 'very productive' on his social media platform Truth Social. (@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)

A Canadian government source who spoke confidentially to CBC News said there was no guarantee that tariffs are coming off the table, but the Canadians left the meeting with optimism that a solution is attainable.

The source also said Trudeau promised to increase security along the Canada-U.S. border and specifically told Trump he'll increase helicopter patrols.

One thing that struck Canadian officials, the source said, is how important the fentanyl issue is to Trump and that anything Canada can do to help is key.

Overall, Canadian officials felt they made good connections on Friday and now know key players on Trump's new team, the source said. Trudeau was joined on the trip by Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc and his chief of staff, Katie Telford.

On Saturday, LeBlanc told CBC News he was "struck" by "how cordial the relationship is between the prime minister and [president-elect] Trump."

When asked whether Trump cancelled his tariff threat, LeBlanc said the president-elect "hasn't imposed them yet and he's not president."

"We talked about how the Canadian economy and the American economy depend on each other," the minister said. "And we talked about how difficult the imposition of tariffs would be on many American consumers and why it's in our interest to work together on shared security concerns."

Pennsylvania senator-elect Dave McCormick posted a photo to social media platform X late Friday showing Trudeau sitting beside Trump during dinner at the Florida estate.

Those in the photo include McCormick; Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for U.S. commerce secretary; Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota, the pick for interior secretary; and Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, the national security adviser nominee.

Federal, provincial leaders react to meeting

In a social media post on Saturday morning, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said in French that "you can't fault the prime minister" for meeting Trump when the president-elect is "starting the next round of trade negotiations in an intimidating way and imploding conditions in part based on border control."

Blanchet also said that Quebec and Canada need to show the U.S. "how important they are to its economy" and foresee changes to the Canada-United States-Mexico trade agreement.

"We'll collaborate if it's good for Quebec and support the request for a Quebec negotiator at the table," Blanchet said.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said in a social media post on Saturday morning that "it is telling one of the primary topics of discussion" between Trump and Trudeau was oil and gas pipelines.

"It once again demonstrates that the path to a strong security and economic relationship with the United States is directly tied to our nation's commitment to providing the United States with the oil and gas it requires to achieve its energy security and affordability goals," she said.

Smith also called on the prime minister to scrap the federal government's planned oil and gas emissions cap and "commence work on additional pipeline infrastructure between Canada and the United States."

PM says tariffs would hurt both countries 

Trump said Monday night on a Truth Social post he would impose a 25 per cent tax on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico unless both countries stop what he called an "invasion" of drugs, "in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens" into the U.S.

Trudeau told a news conference earlier on Friday that Trump's tariff threats should be taken seriously.

"Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There's no question about that," he told reporters.


"Our responsibility is to point out that in this way, he would be actually not just harming Canadians who work so well with the United States. He'd actually be raising prices for American citizens as well, and hurting American industry and businesses."

Trudeau spoke with Trump by phone on Monday evening after the president-elect made his tariff threat. The prime minister said Tuesday morning that the two had a "good call."

"We obviously talked about ... how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth. We talked about some of the challenges we can work on together," he told reporters.

The two leaders talked for about 10 minutes and primarily discussed trade and border security, according to a government source with knowledge of the phone call. Trudeau pointed out that the number of migrants who cross from Canada to the U.S. is a tiny fraction of those who cross from Mexico, the source said.

Trudeau held a virtual meeting with Canada's premiers on Wednesday evening to discuss strategy in the wake of Trump's threat.

WATCH | Trudeau must address border, Danielle Smith says:

Danielle Smith says Trudeau must 'address' border issues to avoid Trump tariffs

17 days ago
Duration 10:02
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith tells Power & Politics the Trudeau government must 'address' border issues to avoid Trump's 'devastating' tariff threat.

If Trump follows through, it could have a massive impact on the Canadian economy.

The U.S. imported $614.3 billion worth of goods from Canada in 2022, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. More recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that the U.S. imported about $435 billion of Canadian goods between January and September of this year.

In his online post, Trump said Mexico and Canada "have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!"

LeBlanc said earlier this week that Canadians can expect to see the government and law enforcement agencies reassuring Canadians that the border is safe and "showing Americans the history and daily partnership that exists between the RCMP and American agencies."

Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, said in a statement on Friday evening that the face-to-face meeting is a "show of good faith" and proves that Trudeau is listening to opposition critics and premiers that say he "needs to do better."

"The prime minister is demonstrating that he understands there are unconventional methods to Trump's way of operating and showing the humility that his detractors accuse him of lacking."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darren Major

CBC Journalist

Darren Major is a senior writer for CBC's Parliamentary Bureau. He can be reached via email at darren.major@cbc.ca.

With files from CBC's David Cochrane, Katie Simpson, Louis Blouin, Rosemary Barton, Alex Panetta