Weeks after winning the election, President-elect Donald Trump took aim at Mexico and Canada over border security. The Great White North appears to be acting as the threat of tariffs looms.
Trump issued his warning to Canada and Mexico last month that if they did not stop the flow of illegal drugs and illegal immigrants across the United States’s northern and southern borders, then the president-elect would impose a 25% tariff on all imports into the U.S. when he entered office.
“I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders. This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular, Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” Trump posted on Truth Social last month.
The Canadian government is working on a plan to increase its border security, according to a report from the New York Times. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other top officials said plans were being made during a meeting Wednesday.
The report claims that officials are considering using drones, dog units, technological advancements to curb the flow of illegal drugs, and databases, among other proposals. The cost of the measures is expected to be released Monday, according to the report, and the plan is expected to be presented to the incoming Trump administration prior to the president-elect’s inauguration next month.
Trump and Trudeau met in Mar-a-Lago shortly after the initial tariff threat by the president-elect, in what was called a “very productive meeting” by Trump and an “excellent conversation” by Trudeau.
Earlier this month, after the Trump-Trudeau meeting, Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc told Canadian news outlet CBC News about the importance of border security between the U.S. and Canada to be improved in a “visible and muscular way.”
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Since making the initial threat of tariffs against Canada, Trump has joked about the country being the 51st U.S. state and calling Trudeau the governor “of the Great State of Canada.”
Trudeau also took a jab at the U.S. for not electing its first female president last month, instead opting for Trump, after previously rejecting a female candidate for president in 2016, Hillary Clinton, who Trump also defeated. Canada only has one female prime minister, Kim Campbell, who served in the position for a few months in 1993.
