OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he spoke to Donald Trump Monday night after the president-elect shared plans to use his first day in office to slap 25 percent tariffs on Canada.
“It was a good call,” Trudeau said this morning on Parliament Hill. “We obviously talked about laying out the facts, talking about how the intense and effective connections between our two countries flow back and forth.”
Last night on Truth Social, Trump shared his first-day priorities.
“As everyone is aware, thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing Crime and Drugs at levels never seen before,” Trump wrote.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders.”
The move would hit more than $400 billion worth of annual Canadian exports to the United States.
Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc released a statement Monday night to stress that border security is their top priority.
“Law enforcement agencies from our respective countries … work together every single day to disrupt the scourge of fentanyl coming from China and other countries,” said Freeland, who chairs a special Cabinet committee focused on bilateral relations in face of Trump 2.0.
Trudeau said he’d convene a meeting with his provincial counterparts this week to discuss the United States. “There’s work to do but we know how to do it.”
