TORONTO (AP) — Two high Canadian Cupboard ministers are visiting Palm Seashore to speak border safety and commerce with the incoming Donald Trump administration as Trump threatens tariffs on all Canadian merchandise.
New Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and International Minister Mélanie Joly can be in Palm Seashore, Florida on Thursday for the talks this week, mentioned Jean-Sébastien Comeau, a spokesman for LeBlanc.
LeBlanc mentioned final week he would meet with Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming “border czar,” after Christmas to debate Canada’s plan to safe the border as a part of a bid to keep away from the sweeping tariffs.
Comeau mentioned LeBlanc and Joly “look forward to building on the discussions that took place when the Prime Minister met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, as well as the positive call the Ministers held with Mr. Tom Homan earlier this month.”
“The Ministers intend to focus on Canada’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration and the measures outlined in Canada’s Border Plan, as well as the negative impacts that the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods would have on both Canada and the United States,” Comeau added in an announcement.
The Trump transition group didn’t instantly reply to a message looking for remark.
Trump retains calling embattled Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the governor of the 51st state and has threatened to impose sweeping tariffs if Canada doesn’t stem what he calls a stream of migrants and medicines in the USA — although far fewer of every cross into the U.S. from Canada than from Mexico, which Trump has additionally threatened.
Canada has a billion-dollar plan to extend safety on the border. LeBlanc final week he mentioned components of the plan with American officers and is optimistic, however mentioned they’ve plenty of work forward.
Trump has additionally made a problem of the U.S. commerce deficit with Canada, erroneously calling it a subsidy.
Canada’s ambassador to Washington, Kirsten Hillman, has mentioned the U.S. had a $75 billion commerce deficit with Canada final yr. However she famous a 3rd of what Canada sells into the U.S. are power exports and mentioned there’s a deficit when oil costs are excessive.
About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports and 85% of U.S. electrical energy imports are from Canada.
Practically $3.6 billion Canadian {dollars} ($2.7 billion) value of products and providers cross the border every day. Canada is the highest export vacation spot for 36 U.S. states.
Flows of migrants and seizures of medication are vastly completely different on the U.S.’s two land borders. U.S. customs brokers seized 43 kilos of fentanyl on the Canadian border over the past fiscal yr, in contrast with 21,100 kilos on the Mexican border.
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A lot of the fentanyl reaching the U.S. — the place it causes about 70,000 overdose deaths yearly — is made by Mexican drug cartels utilizing precursor chemical compounds smuggled from Asia.
On immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol reported 1.53 million encounters with migrants on the southwest border with Mexico between October 2023 and September 2024. That compares to 23,721 encounters on the Canadian border throughout that point.
