Two of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s top cabinet ministers met Friday with two of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet picks in an attempt to stave off the looming prospect of tariffs on Canadian exports.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc flew to Florida to brief the presidential transition team on the government’s plan for improving border security and to make the case that Trump’s threat of steep tariffs on all Canadian exports to the U.S. would damage both countries’ economies.
Trump threatened last month to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico starting on Jan. 20, his inauguration day, unless the countries curb the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders.
Joly and LeBlanc met Friday morning with Trump’s nominee for secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, and his pick for secretary of the interior, Doug Burgum, at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago …