Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with President-elect Donald Trump Friday at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Canada’s CBC News reported. The meeting comes in the wake of Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on goods coming from Canada. 

Trudeau will dine with Trump at Mar-a-largo Friday night, according to senior sources who spoke to CBC News on condition they not be named due to the sensitivity of the trip. The sources said the meeting was pushed for by Canadian officials, the Canadian broadcaster said.

Trudeau’s plane landed at Palm Beach International Airport at about 5:30 p.m. local time. 

The meeting comes after Trudeau earlier Friday cautioned that if Trump follows through on this threat to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, he would be raising prices for Americans and hurting American businesses.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if the countries don’t stop what he called the flow of drugs and migrants across southern and northern borders. He said he would impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico as one of his first executive orders.

“It is important to understand that Donald Trump, when he makes statements like that, he plans on carrying them out. There’s no question about it,” Trudeau said to reporters in Prince Edward Island in Atlantic Canada.

“Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for American citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” he added.

Trudeau said Trump got elected because he promised to bring down the cost of groceries but now he’s talking about adding 25% to the cost of all kinds of products, including potatoes from Prince Edward Island.

Those tariffs could essentially blow up the North American trade pact that Trump’s team negotiated during his first term. Trudeau noted they were able to successfully re-negotiate the deal, which he calls a “win-win” for both countries.

“We can work together as we did previously,” Trudeau said.

Trump made the tariff threat Monday while railing against an influx of illegal migrants, even though the numbers at the Canadian border pale in comparison to the southern border.

The U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone — and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian one between October 2023 and September 2024.

Trump also railed about fentanyl from Mexico and Canada, even though seizures from the Canadian border are few in comparison to the Mexican border. U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared with 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border.

Canadian officials say lumping Canada in with Mexico is unfair but they are ready to make new investments in border security.

“We’re going to work together to meet some of the concerns,” Trudeau said. “But ultimately it is through lots of real constructive conversations with President Trump that I am going to have, that will keep us moving forward on the right track for all Canadians.”

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday she is confident that a tariff war with the United States will be averted. Trump posted on social media that he had spoken with her and she had agreed to stop unauthorized migration across the border into the United States.

When Trump imposed higher tariffs during his first term in office, other countries responded with retaliatory tariffs of their own. Canada, for instance, announced billions of new duties in 2018 against the U.S. in a tit-for-tat response to new taxes on Canadian steel and aluminum.

Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the U.S. and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon is eager for and investing in for national security.

Chef, restaurateur and TV cooking judge Tom Colicchio offers “Sunday Morning” viewers a recipe from his latest book, “Why I Cook,” for Skirt Steak with Shishitos, Hot Cherry Peppers, and Onions. He writes:

“This recipe started as a salad for our babysitter Tenzin, who is a vegetarian. I, clearly, am not. But the flavors of that salad — sweetness, acid, spice, saltiness, and umami — work so well together I knew they would go perfectly with steak. For the record, this combo of hot cherry peppers, shishitos, and red onions, which touches every flavor receptor, works just as well with grilled pork, chicken, or fish. Sometimes I’ll add raw cucumbers at the end; sometimes I’ll cut the onions into rings and grill them. And if you have leftover steak, just slice it, toss it briefly on the grill, and use.”

Skirt Steak with Shishitos, Hot Cherry Peppers, and Onions
By Tom Colicchio
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1¼ pounds skirt steak
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 red onions, cut into 1-inch wedges
Kosher salt
½ pound shishito peppers
Freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon chili crisp
¼ cup sliced pickled hot cherry peppers
½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
½ cup fresh mint leaves
½ cup fresh parsley leaves
½ cup fresh basil leaves
2 or 3 scallions, sliced
Juice of 1 lime

Instructions:

Allow the steak to come to room temperature.

Warm a large heavy-bottomed sauté pan over medium heat. Add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan, about 2 tablespoons. Place the onions in the pan, season with salt, and cook until browned and soft, 6 to 7 minutes. Transfer the onions from the pan to a large bowl.

To the same pan, add 1 tablespoon oil and the shishito peppers. Season with salt and cook, turning occasionally, until the shishitos are charred and blistered, 6 to 8 minutes.

Transfer the shishitos to the bowl with the onions. Toss the onions and peppers with 1 tablespoon olive oil and salt and black pepper to taste. Add the fish sauce, chili crisp, and pickled peppers. Taste and adjust the amount of chili crisp and pickled peppers based on how much spice you like. Add the fresh cilantro, mint, parsley, and basil and mix.

Dry the skirt steak with paper towels and cut crosswise into pieces that will fit in the same heavy-bottomed sauté pan. Generously season the steak with salt and black pepper.

Heat the pan over medium-high heat. Pour in enough oil to coat the bottom, about 2 tablespoons. When the oil shimmers, add the steak to the pan (in batches, if needed, so as not to overcrowd the pan) and sear for 2 to 3 minutes per side for medium-rare.

Transfer the steak to a cutting board and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing against the grain and tossing with the onion/shishito/herb mixture. Spoon any accumulated juices over the steak, top with the scallions and lime juice, and enjoy.

       
From “Why I Cook” by Tom Colicchio. Copyright © 2024 by Tom Colicchio. Reprinted by permission of Artisan, an imprint of Hachette Book Group. All rights reserved.

     
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