Canadas foreign minister Joly to meet Rubio as US tariff threat looms | Donald Trump News [Video]

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will meet with her US counterpart Marco Rubio in Washington, DC, as Canada seeks to stave off the threat of steep United States tariffs and a potential trade war between the two countries.

Joly is set to hold talks with the US secretary of state on Wednesday afternoon in the US capital.

Her visit comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to slap 25-percent tariffs on all Canadian goods entering the country as early as Saturday.

“Our objective is to make sure that we prevent [the tariffs] and we believe that we can do so,” Joly told reporters in Ottawa earlier this week. “We will continue to engage with our different American counterparts.”

The Canadian government has faced mounting pressure, including from opposition lawmakers and business leaders, to do whatever it can to stave off the potentially crippling tariffs.

The US and Canada are major trading partners. According to Canadian government figures, the countries exchanged $2.7bn (3.6 …