Toronto, December 28
Two Canadian cabinet ministers held a meeting today at Mar-a-Lago with the US President-elect’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick. During this meeting, they did not get assurance that Trump’s threat to impose heavy taxes on all products coming from America’s major trading partner, Canada, will be withdrawn. On the other hand, Canadian ministers termed the talks as ‘beneficial’ and said that there will be further talks in this regard, while an official said that the US still stands by its decision regarding trade with Canada. Canada’s Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Melanie Jolie met with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for Commerce Secretary. Along with this, he also met with the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, who was chosen by Trump for the interior department. Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian products if Canada does not stop the flow of immigrants and fentanyl into the United States. “LeBlanc and Jolie had a meaningful meeting with Howard Lutnick and Doug Bergum at Mar-a-Lago,” LeBlanc’s spokesman Jean-Sébastien Comeau said. This meeting took place after a dinner meeting between the Prime Minister of Canada and the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, last month.