Ottawa (AFP) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday for what Canadian and American media said was a meeting with US President-elect Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago luxury estate. Flight trackers first spotted a jet broadcasting the prime minister’s callsign en route to the southern US state, in a visit that comes days after Trump threatened the United States’ northern neighbor with import tariffs once he takes office. According to the website Flightradar, the Canadian leader’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport late in the afternoon.
Canadian public broadcaster CBC said Trudeau would be dining with Trump, and that his public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc, was accompanying him on the trip. The prime minister’s office did not immediately confirm the unannounced trip. Trump sent shockwaves across Canada when he announced pending import tariffs against neighbors Canada and Mexico and also rival China in social media posts on Monday. More than three-quarters of Canadian exports, or Can$592.7 billion ($423 billion), went to the United States last year, and nearly two million Canadian jobs are dependent on trade.
A government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States. Some have suggested Trump’s tariff threat may be bluster, or an opening salvo in future trade negotiations. But Trudeau rejected those views when he spoke with reporters earlier in Prince Edward Island province. “Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau said. “There’s no question about it.”
© 2024 AFP
