Canadian ministers take border pitch to Lutnick at Mar-a-Lago

Brian Platt, Bloomberg News on Dec 27, 2024

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Two senior Canadian Cabinet ministers flew to Florida to make the case to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s team that the northern border is secure and tariffs won’t be necessary.

Canada’s Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, and Doug Burgum, his proposed interior secretary.

It’s the second high-level Canadian mission to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in the past month, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met the incoming leader at the end of November.

The Canadian ministers “had a positive, productive meeting” and “reiterated the shared commitment to strengthen border security as well as combat the harm caused by fentanyl,” according to LeBlanc’s spokesperson.

“During their conversations, Lutnick and Burgum took note of the updates provided by both ministers and agreed to relay information to President Trump,” Jean-Sébastien Comeau said in a statement.

LeBlanc unveiled a border security plan this month that’s meant to mitigate Trump’s concerns over migrants and fentanyl crossing the border. The C$1.3 billion ($902 million) Canadian proposal includes an “aerial intelligence task force” made up of helicopters, drones and mobile surveillance towers, as well as an increased focus on countering and punishing money laundering.

Trump has pledged to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports if more isn’t done to secure the border. The president-elect has lumped Canada and Mexico together in his concerns about security, though statistics reported by the U.S. government show the flow of drugs and undocumented migrants at the northern border is a tiny fraction of the volume at the south’s.

Still, Trudeau’s government has made efforts to show it’s taking Trump’s concerns seriously, and there are some positive signs.

“The conversation I have in Canada, I couldn’t ask for a better conversation,” Tom Homan, Trump’s pick to oversee border security, said in a Dec. 19 interview on Canada’s CTV.

“Of course, actions have to follow, but I’m very optimistic from the conversation I had that we’re going to come up with a good border security plan,” Homan told the television network.

Trudeau’s response to Trump’s tariff threat has been complicated by chaos in his government. Chrystia Freeland, who had been Canada’s finance minister since 2020, quit suddenly on Dec. 16 after Trudeau told her he planned to move her into a different Cabinet role.

In her resignation letter, Freeland indirectly criticized Trudeau for being too focused on “political gimmicks” rather than saving fiscal room to help the economy in a potential tariff war with Trump.

Freeland had been Canada’s point person on trade during Trump’s first term when the North American free trade pact was renegotiated, and she was expected to play a leading part in Canada’s response to trade discussions this time as well. LeBlanc was appointed finance minister after her resignation and looks likely to fill that role.

Trudeau, meanwhile, has largely disappeared from public view since Freeland’s resignation and is said to be considering his political future over the holidays.