Trudeau At Mar-a-Lago To Meet Trump After Tariff Threat

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Florida to meet Donald Trump as Canada seeks to head off the president-elect’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods, a source has confirmed to the BBC.

Canadian media reported that Trudeau landed in Palm Beach International Airport on Friday evening to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

The two spoke by phone earlier in the week after Trump announced that, upon taking office in January, he would slap an across-the-board tariff on all products entering the US from Mexico and Canada.

Neither the prime minister’s office nor Trump’s team have responded to a request for comment on the visit.

The trip was not included on Trudeau’s public itinerary for Friday. The two men will have dinner, the source said.

Trump has been at his Mar-a-Lago estate meeting with his transition team. Trudeau is reported to be the first G7 leader to visit the president-elect since the election.

Trudeau has often underscored that the two countries were able to successfully renegotiate a major trade pact during Trump’s first term, though the relationship between the two leaders has occasionally been rocky.

On Friday, speaking at an event in Prince Edward Island, Trudeau said the two countries “rolled up our sleeves and were able to create jobs on both sides of the border”.

He said looked forward to having many “great” conversations with Trump.

The Florida visit is the latest move by Canada as it seeks to avoid the hefty tariffs, which could have wide-reaching economic impacts.

It remains unclear whether the incoming Trump administration will actually move ahead with the threatened tariffs, as analysts note that the president-elect has been known to use such threats in the past as a negotiating tactic to achieve his goals.

Www.bbcnews.co.uk/world