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Justin Trudeau promised Donald Trump that Canada would step up surveillance of the long-unsecured shared border, a senior Canadian official said Sunday. Canada’s prime minister flew to Florida on Friday to have dinner with the US president-elect, who has vowed to impose tariffs on Canadian imports unless Ottawa stops undocumented people and drugs from crossing the border.
Canada sends 75% of all exports of goods and services to the United States, and tariffs would severely damage the economy.
Public Safety Minister Dominique LeBlanc, who sat at the table with Trudeau and Trump, said the two men discussed additional security measures that Canada will put in place.
“We will try to provide, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters, we will redeploy personnel, as much as a reassurance exercise, we believe the border is secure,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“I think it’s important to show Canadians and Americans that we’re stepping up in a visible and muscular way, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he added, promising more details in the days and weeks ahead.
Canada, he said, will continue to argue that the tariffs will hurt both countries, given how interconnected the two economies are.
“I am confident that the Americans will understand that it is not in their interest … to continue in this way,” he said, describing the dinner meeting as very warm and cordial.
Trump said Saturday he discussed the border, trade and energy in a “very productive” meeting with Trudeau.
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The friendly nature of the dinner contrasted with previous conversations between the two men.
In 2022 Trump called Trudeau a “far-left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates” over requiring truck drivers crossing the border to be vaccinated against Covid-19. In 2018 Trump left the G7 summit in Quebec and tweeted that Trudeau was “very dishonest and weak.”
At the end of Mar-a-Lago Unlike the dinner, LeBlanc said, Trump sent Trudeau to his car and said, “Stay in touch. Call me anytime. Speak soon.’
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