Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Florida on Friday for a dinner with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago estate, as the incoming US leader promised tariffs on Canadian imports.
A smiling Trudeau was seen exiting a hotel in West Palm Beach before rolling out in a motorcade later seen by media to be entering Mar-a-Lago.
Flight trackers had first spotted a jet broadcasting the prime minister’s callsign en route to the southern US state in an unannounced visit. A Canadian government official later told AFP that the two leaders were dining together.
The trip comes after 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 Canadian government source told AFP that Canada is considering possible retaliatory tariffs against the United States.
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 that Trudeau’s public safety minister, Dominic LeBlanc was accompanying him on the trip.
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.”
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