Two of Canada’s top ministers will travel to Palm Beach to discuss border security and trade with the incoming Donald Trump administration as President Trump threatens to impose tariffs on all Canadian goods.
New Finance Minister LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly are scheduled to meet this Thursday in Palm Beach, Florida, LeBlanc’s press secretary, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, said.
LeBlanc said last week that he planned to meet with President Trump’s next “border czar” Tom Homan after Christmas to discuss Canada’s plans to secure the border as part of significant tariff avoidance.
Comeau said LeBlanc and Jolie were “building on the discussions that took place during the Prime Minister’s meeting with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month and the positive meeting the Cabinet had with Tom Homan earlier this month.” I look forward to further discussions.” ”
“Ministers also focused on Canada’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration, the measures outlined in the Canada Border Plan, and the negative impact that the imposition of a 25% tariff on Canadian goods will have on both Canada and the United States. ”’ Comeau added in a statement.
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
President Trump continues to refer to embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as governor of Canada’s 51st province, threatening to impose significant tariffs if Canada does not stop what he calls immigration and drug flows into the United States. I’m threatening you. President Trump has also threatened the United States more than Canada than Mexico.
Canada has a billion-dollar plan to strengthen border security. LeBlanc discussed parts of the plan with U.S. officials last week and said he was optimistic, but that much work remains.
President Trump also took issue with the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, mistakenly referring to it as a subsidy.
Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, said the United States had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year. But he noted that one-third of what Canada sells to the United States is energy exports, creating a deficit when oil prices are high.
Approximately 60% of the United States’ crude oil imports and 85% of its electricity imports come from Canada.
Approximately C$3.6 billion ($2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross borders every day. Canada is the top export destination for 36 US states.
The two U.S. land borders have vastly different migration flows and drug seizures. Last year, U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border, compared to 21,100 pounds at the Mexico border.
Most of the fentanyl that reaches the United States (which causes about 70,000 overdose deaths each year) is manufactured by Mexican drug cartels using precursor chemicals smuggled from Asia.
Regarding immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million migrant encounters at the southwest border with Mexico from October 2023 to September 2024. By comparison, there were 23,721 encounters at the Canadian border during this period.
Customs duties are taxes levied on products purchased from abroad and are applied in almost all countries.
