PALM BEACH, United States - Justin Trudeau had an “excellent conversation” with Donald Trump at the president-elect’s Florida estate, Canada’s prime minister said on Nov 30, as the United States’ neighbours scramble to blunt the impact of Trump’s trade threats.

Mr Trudeau flew for a dinner at Mar-a-Lago on Nov 29, after Trump earlier this week announced plans for import tariffs against Canada and Mexico and rival China.

“It was an excellent conversation,” Mr Trudeau told reporters on the morning of Nov 30, as he was leaving a hotel in West Palm Beach to catch a flight back to Canada.

Mr Trudeau was the latest high-profile guest of Trump, whose impending second term - which starts in January - is already overshadowing the last few months of President Joe Biden’s administration.

A photograph released by Pennsylvania Senator-elect David McCormick showed Trump and Mr Trudeau side-by-side at table, surrounded by a dozen guests including Mr Howard Lutnick, Donald Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, and Mr Mike Waltz, his choice for national security adviser.

In a social media post on Nov 25, Trump said he would slap a 25 per cent tariff on Mexico and Canada, accusing the two US neighbours of allowing an “invasion” of the US by illicit drugs, namely fentanyl, and undocumented migrants.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum spoke with Trump by phone on Nov 27, though the two leaders’ accounts of the conversation differed drastically.

Trump claimed that Mexico&...