Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Donald Trump Friday night at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
Speaking to reporters outside his hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday morning, Trudeau said his conversation with Trump was “excellent” but did not respond to any additional questions.
Pennsylvania’s Senator-Elect Dave McCormick posted a photo on X Friday night that shows Trump and Trudeau sitting together at a table in the club at Mar-a-Lago. Also included in the photo are Trump’s interior secretary pick Doug Burgum, secretary of commerce nominee Howard Lutnick, and Trump’s pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz.
The meeting came after Trump threatened sweeping 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada until both countries stop what he claims is a flow of drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States.
Trudeau told reporters earlier this week after he and Trump spoke on the phone following the tariff threat that they had a “good call.” He added that he looks forward to “lots of great conversations” with Trump.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves the hotel for the airport, in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Nov. 30, 2024.
Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images
The prime minister has cited the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or UMSCA, negotiations as a sign he believes he can work with Trump on trade and avoid a trade war.
USMCA went into effect in 2020 after it was signed by Trump and was designed to provide mostly duty-free trade among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Trump’s tariff threats could put that deal in jeopardy.
The terms of USMCA allowed it to be renegotiated after six years, in 2026, but experts have told ABC News that the tariff threat may be an effort to move up that negotiation window.
However, some experts told ABC News’ Selina Wang and Karen Travers that the threat is not likely to work in a second Trump term because it is “the same playbook done the second time around. If you’re on the football field and you call the same play twice, it’s not going to be as effective the second time.”
President Donald Trump welcomes Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the White House in Washington, Oct. 11, 2017.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The tariffs also could significantly raise prices for goods after Trump ran his campaign on lowering too-high inflation.
Trudeau spoke with Trump on Monday, Nov. 25, after Trump had announced the day-one tariffs on Canada and Mexico, as well as on China, the U.S.’s top three trading partners.
“We talked about some of the challenges that we can work on together,” he told reporters of the call. “This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Trudeau’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport on Friday ahead of an expected dinner at Mar-a-Lago with the president-elect, according to reports.
-ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
