Was Trudeau’s Friendly Warm Social Dinner with Trump a Breakthrough?

A table setting to be envious of indeed. Trudeau was seated next Trump, surrounded by new Trump appointees important to the US- Canada relationship including Howard Lutnick, Trump's nominee for commerce secretary, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump's pick to lead the Interior Department, Mike Waltz and his wife, Trump';s choice to be his national security adviser.

Also, Senator David McCormick and his wife, Dina Powell, a former deputy national security adviser under Trump, as well as Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, responsible for border security, and Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff. All smiling! Let’s hope they all knew which fork to use for the salad course. And his mother’s meat loaf was on the menu – a must order for our people!

Our US Ambassador Kirsten Hillman, at an adjacent table, said the atmosphere was “warm," that Trump and Trudeau "get along well" and the dinner was also a chance to socialize. She said Trump used his iPad to play music and she said Trump told Trudeau he is a big fan of Canadian singer Celine Dion. There were no briefing papers and no agenda – not a real working dinner. Clearly Trump enjoyed being the generous host in the crowded main dining room of his Florida palace. Personal relationships are so important - clearly this event worked for Canada. LeBlanc said Trump accompanied his Canadian guests to the door with a warm “keep in touch – we’ll talk soon.”

Trudeau had the floor early on to make his pitch. And knowing the rules for Canadian diplomacy vis-a-vis the most powerful man in the world, you can be sure he emphasized that he was on the same page when it came to the border and fentanyl – two focuses of Trump signaled in his Nov. 25 social media post. There he threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico until they clamped down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border. Trudeau called Trump the evening it landed and assuredly made his case that the southern and northern borders are entirely different. It was on that call Trump invited his to his Florida mansion for dinner the following Friday as long as it was kept secret.

Notably Trump sought out Trudeau’s views on world leaders who had changed since he was last President. Trudeau is now the senior member of the Group of Seven western leaders. Part of the better relations between the two men can be traced to an earlier personal call from Trudeau to Trump the day after the attempted assassination on July 13, 2024. In addition, Trudeau still has some star power and would be recognizable to Trump’s Florida crowd.

Dominic Leblanc’s read out in several interviews paints an incredibly positive picture of the launch of very strategic high-level lobbying of Trump and his people to find an exemption to the punishing tariff threat. He made a good impression on Lutnick, the incoming Commerce Secretary. He was able to recount the major BC takedown of a huge fentanyl lab. He was very interested in the Chinese source of many chemicals used in its manufacture. Leblanc found Burgum from North Dakota picked to run the interior department who is well briefed on Canada and shared concerns.

The lighthearted nature of the dinner was on display one point when Trump joked that if Canada can't handle the economic

effects of a punishing 25 per cent tariff on its goods, it should become the 51st state of the U.S.!

The Canadians left the Americans with detailed promises to buy more helicopters and drones to provide better surveillance of the large swaths of the undefended border. LeBlanc has invitations to phone the two he talked to most. These kinds of contacts made in a friendly social circumstance are gold. The next day the PM-in-waiting Piere Poilievre was behind a podium branded Fix the Broken Border. He was anything but a Team player for Canada calling the PM “a weak prime minister who’s lost control of our borders, lost control of immigration, lost control of crime and drugs, and lost control of our economy.”

Let’s hope Trudeau is a smart and strong PM, taking the right approach to protect us against Trump’s threats. The Mar a Lago dinner was a great occasion to set out on the right foot.