President-elect Trump said he had a “very productive meeting” with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday at the Mar-a-Lago Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Prime Minister Trudeau flew into Mar-a-Lago unannounced on Friday, days after President Trump threatened to impose steep tariffs on Canadian goods. President Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, citing their failures in efforts to curb illegal immigration and illegal drug flows into the United States.
“We are committed to working together to address the fentanyl and drug crisis that has taken too many lives as a result of illegal immigration, fair trade agreements that do not put American workers at risk, and our massive trade deficit. We discussed many important topics that need to be addressed. The United States is working with Canada,” President Trump wrote on Saturday's Truth Social.
President-elect Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, left, CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images, right)
Star-studded crowd attends Thanksgiving party at Musk, Stallone and Trump's Mar-a-Lago club
“I have made it clear that the United States can no longer stand by and watch our people fall victim to the scourge of this drug epidemic, caused primarily by drug cartels and fentanyl coming from China. Too much death and suffering!”
Trump wrote that Trudeau, who has been Canada's prime minister since 2015, promised to work with the United States to “end this horrific devastation against American families.”
U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last year, compared to 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. In terms of immigration, Border Patrol apprehended 56,530 people at the Mexican border in October alone, and 23,721 people at the Canadian border from October 2023 to September 2024. Canadian officials say they are ready to make new investments in border security.
Mexico's president may change his view of the US as Trump win sends warning to ruling socialists
On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined Trump and other officials for dinner. (Sen. Dave McCormick, via X)
Trump said the two men also discussed a number of other important topics, including energy, trade and the Arctic, but did not provide further details.
Trump did not say whether tariffs were still on the table, concluding: “These are all important issues that I will address on my first day in office and before.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she was confident after speaking by phone with Trump. Tariff war with Washington It will be avoided.
Pennsylvania Sen.-elect Dave McCormick posted a photo of Mr. X late Friday at a dinner table at Mar-a-Lago with President-elect Trump, Trudeau, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and others. The luxurious club has been buzzing with activity since President-elect Trump's historic election victory over Vice President Harris earlier this month, as the 45th president orchestrates his return to the Oval Office.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also met with President Trump at the famous location, along with many of the incoming administration's top nominees. President Trump selected Musk to lead an external advisory committee known as the Department of Government Efficiency, which aims to reduce waste in the federal government.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
On his way out of his West Palm Beach hotel, Trudeau paused to answer reporters' questions about the dinner, saying, “It was a great conversation.”
One official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said it was a “positive, wide-ranging dinner that lasted three hours.”
The official said other topics on the agenda include defence, Ukraine, NATO, China, the Middle East and pipelines, as well as the G7 meeting to be held in Canada next year.
Fox News' Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
