New measures imminent after Trudeau-Trump meeting: Canada's border minister

By Randy Thanthong-Knight

 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government will step up border enforcement in a “visible and muscular way,” according to a top Canadian official, as the nation tries to avoid tariffs from Donald Trump’s new administration. 

At a dinner meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday, “we got a mutual understanding of what they’re concerned about in terms of border security measures,” Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The government will announce additional border resources “in the coming days or weeks,” which may include more drones, helicopters and staff, he said.  

LeBlanc was one of a handful of Canadian officials who attended the dinner with Trump and Trudeau, where the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues, including movements of fentanyl and unauthorized migrants. Those are the problems Trump raised in a social media post on Monday that vowed to hit Canada and Mexico with 25 per cent tariffs unless the two US neighbors address them. 

 

LeBlanc — whose portfolio includes Canada’s border agency — told the CBC he discussed tariffs and the border with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for Commerce secretary. The two men exchanged text messages over the weekend and are likely meet again soon, he said. 

 

Trump invited Trudeau to Florida during a phone conversation on Monday evening, according to LeBlanc. 

 

“It was a very warm, cordial meeting, and I saw very much the mutual respect and warmth between the two leaders,” he said of Friday’s dinner discussion. 

 

Trump said on social media on Saturday that Trudeau “has made a commitment to work with us” to impede drug trafficking.