Canadian Ambassador Claims Trudeau Told Trump Canada’s Border Can’t Be Compared to Mexico’s

TORONTO– Canada’s ambassador to the United States said Sunday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau succeeded in making President-elect Donald Trump and top Cabinet nominees understand that it was unfair to lump Canada in with Mexico about the flow of drugs and migrants to the United States.

Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to Washington, told The Associated Press in an interview that Trudeau’s plan dinner with Trump Friday was a very important step in trying to roll back Trump customs tariffs threatened on all products of the main American trading partner.

Hillman was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida and was seated at a table adjacent to Trudeau and Trump.

Asset has threatened to impose tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop what he calls the flow of drugs and migrants across their borders. He said in a social media post last Monday that he would impose a 25% tax on all products. enter the United States of Canada and Mexico as one of his first decrees.

Hillman said Trudeau asked to see Trump in person during a phone call Monday and that Trump invited him to dinner Friday.

At the dinner, Hillman said Trump argued there was no comparison between the Canada-U.S. border and the Mexico-U.S. border.

“The message that our border is so different from the Mexican border was really understood,” Hillman said.

Hillman said the bulk of Friday night’s dinner focused on Trump’s border concerns. The ambassador said one of Trudeau’s priorities was to highlight the degree of difference.

Hillman said there’s really no comparison, pointing out that there is virtually no trafficking of fentanyl from Canada to the United States. She said there were seizures, but authorities say they were seizures for personal use and not criminal trafficking. She said 99.8% of the fentanyl seized by U.S. authorities in the United States came from Mexico.

“Also when it comes to individuals, illegal individuals crossing illegally, Canada last year accounted for less than 1 percent, or 0.6 percent of the total interceptions coming from Canada,” Hillman said.

U.S. customs agents seized 43 pounds of fentanyl at the Canadian border last fiscal year, compared to 21,100 pounds at the Mexican border. When it comes to immigration, the U.S. Border Patrol made 56,530 arrests at the Mexican border in October alone and 23,721 arrests at the Canadian border between October 2023 and September 2024 — and Hillman said the number number of migrants has been decreasing since the summer.

“The facts are hard to deny,” Hillman said.

But Hillman said Canada is ready to make new investments in border security and plans to acquire more helicopters, drones and law enforcement officers.

She also highlighted an agreement between Canada and the United States that allows migrants caught crossing illegally into the United States to be returned to Canada. She said it had been discussed. She said Mexico and the United States have not reached a similar agreement.

During the three-hour dinner, Hillman said the U.S. trade deficit with Canada was also discussed. Hillman said the United States had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year, but noted that a third of what Canada sells to the United States are energy exports and that prices are high.

“It’s focused on trade balances, so it’s important to engage in that conversation but put it in context,” Hillman said.

“We are one-tenth the size of the United States, so a balanced trade deal would mean that, per capita, we buy 10 times more from the United States than they buy from us. If that’s his measure, we’ll definitely commit to that.”

At the dinner, Trump and Trudeau were joined by Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump’s pick to lead the Interior Department, Mike Waltz, pick by Trump to be his national security adviser, and the wives of all three men.

Also present at the dinner were David McCormick, just-elected U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, and his wife, Dina Powell, former deputy national security adviser under Trump, as well as Canadian Minister of Public Safety Dominic LeBlanc, whose responsibilities include border security, and Katie Telford. , Trudeau’s chief of staff.

Hillman said Canadian officials and the new Trump administration would work on Trump’s concerns in the coming weeks. Trump called the “productive” discussions Sunday in a social media post, but signaled no withdrawal of its pricing commitment.

Hillman said Trump and Trudeau “got along well” and the dinner was also an opportunity to socialize. She said Trump used his iPad to listen to music and that Trump told Trudeau he was a big fan of Canadian singer Celine Dion.

“I don’t think it could have been better to be frank. Okay, I’ll take that back, I’ll change that. If he had clearly said there would be no tariffs, that would have been better, but there was no realistic expectation about that,” Hillman said.

Canada is the primary export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly C$3.6 billion (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border every day.

About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports come from Canada and 85% of U.S. electricity imports come from Canada.

Canada is also the largest foreign supplier of steel, aluminum and uranium to the United States and has 34 critical minerals and metals that the Pentagon eagerly seeks and invests in for national security.

Canada is one of the most trade-dependent countries in the world and 77% of its exports go to the United States.