A senior Canadian official has confirmed his country will increase security along its border with the US after Justin Trudeau met with Donald Trump on Friday.
Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday to meet Trump at Mar-a-Lago following the president-elect’s announcement of 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico unless the two countries secured their borders to prevent illegal immigration to the US.
Canada sends 75% of its goods and services exports to the US, meaning that tariffs would have an immediate and significant effect on the country’s trade.
Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who sat with Trudeau and Trump during their dinner at Mar-a-Lago, said the two men discussed a number of security measures Canada would be introducing.
“We’re going to look to procure, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters, we’re going to redeploy personnel… we believe that the border is secure,” LeBlanc told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“It’s important, I think, to show Canadians and the Americans that we’re stepping up in a visible and muscular way, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” LeBlanc added, promising more details in the days and weeks to come.
On Saturday, in a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that his meeting with Trudeau had been productive.
“I just had a very productive meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, where we discussed many important topics that will require both Countries to work together to address, like the Fentanyl and Drug Crisis that has decimated so many lives as a result of Illegal Immigration, Fair Trade Deals that do not jeopardize American Workers, and the massive Trade Deficit the U.S. has with Canada,” Trump posted.
“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. Too much death and hardship! Prime Minister Trudeau has made a commitment to work with us to end this terrible devastation of U.S. Families. We also spoke about many other important topics like Energy, Trade, and the Arctic. All are vital issues that I will be addressing on my first days back in Office, and before.”
The governments of Mexico and Canada have been in panic mode since Trump’s announcement of tariffs linked to illegal immigration. Within hours of the announcement, Trudeau reportedly called Trump to speak directly.
Trudeau has made clear he believes Trump will carry out his threat.
“One of the things that is really important to understand is that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out,” Trudeau told reporters in Mount Stewart.
“There’s no question about it.”