By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised President-elect Donald Trump that Canada would toughen controls over the long undefended joint border, a senior Canadian official said on Sunday.
Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday to have dinner with Trump, who has promised to slap tariffs on Canadian imports unless Ottawa prevents migrants and drugs from crossing the frontier.
Canada sends 75% of all goods and services exports to the United States and tariffs would badly hurt the economy.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who sat at the head table with Trudeau and Trump, said the two men discussed additional security measures Canada would be introducing.
“We’re going to look to procure, for example, additional drones, additional police helicopters, we’re going to redeploy personnel … we believe that the border is secure,” he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.
“It’s important, I think, to show Canadians and the Americans that we’re stepping up in a visible and muscular way, and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he added, promising more details in the days and weeks to come.
Canada, he said, would continue to make the case that tariffs would damage both nations, given how interconnected the two economies are.
“I’m confident that the Americans will understand that it’s not in their interest … to proceed in this way,” he said, describing the dinner meeting as very warm and cordial.
Trump said on Saturday he discussed the border, trade and energy in a “very productive” meeting with Trudeau.
The friendly nature of the dinner contrasts with previous exchanges between the two men.
Trump called Trudeau “a far left lunatic” in 2022 for requiring truck drivers crossing the border to be vaccinated against COVID. In June 2018, Trump walked out of a G7 summit in Quebec and blasted Trudeau for being “very dishonest and weak.”
At the end of the dinner, LeBlanc said, Trump walked Trudeau to his car and said “Keep in touch. Call me anytime. Talk soon.”
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Chris Reese)
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