Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is reportedly dining with Donald Trump on Friday at Mar-a-Lago, after the president-elect this week threatened Canada, Mexico, and China with substantial tarriffs.
Tariffs aren’t the only form of international influence Trump is pursuing before inauguration day. Senator Lindsey Graham, a close adviser, said on Friday that Trump hopes a ceasefire deal can be reached over the Israel-Hamas war before he takes office.
The international action comes a day after Trump roasted Democrats in a bizarre AI-generated Thanksgiving video which concluded with the president-elect bursting out of a turkey and dancing to YMCA.
The video, which parodies National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, shows a computer-generated President Joe Biden, whose head is superimposed on the body of Chevy Chase, carving a turkey.
“Save the neck for me, Clark,” California Representative Adam Schiff urges beside a giggling Vice President Kamala Harris. Biden continues to slice the turkey before Trump breaks out of the dry, crumbling carcass and grooves to the Village People’s hit.
Trudeau’s Friday night Trump tie-up
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in Palm Beach, Florida on Friday evening, part of reported plans to dine with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, after the president-elect threatened Canada with sweeping tariffs earlier this week.
Neither Trump nor Trudeau publicly announced the meeting, but the Canadian official was seen exiting a hotel in the area. He reportedly traveled to Florida alongside Canadian public safety minister Dominic LeBlanc.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened Canada and Mexico with 25 percent tariffs, in what the Republican said was an attempt to crack down on illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
The proposal, which would likely cause massive economic disruption, alarmed officials in Canada.
More details in our full story.
ICYMI: Despite Trump’s claims, Mexican president denies country is closing border
On Wednesday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that Sheinbaum had made such a promise during a phone call earlier in the day. He wrote that she had “agreed to stop Migration through Mexico, and into the United States, effectively closing our Southern Border.”
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Why might Trump ditch Musk? Maggie Haberman has an idea…
Haberman discussed the relationship between the billionaire, who has been at Trump’s side almost constantly since his election victory more than three weeks ago, and the president-elect during an appearance on CNN on Wednesday.
Rhian Lubin reports.
Biden’s holiday reading list: President seen leaving book store with Palestinian history book
Joe Biden’s been relatively quiet since the end of the 2024 election, but the president did manage to make healdines for a quiet gesture over the holiday weekend.
Biden was spotted walking out of the Nantucket Bookworks book store carrying The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, a book by Columbia professor Rashid Khalidi, according to pool reports.
The work, which analyzes Palestinian history and accuses Israel of carrying out “settler colonial conquest,” is a bit of a surprise addition to Biden’s book shelf.
Since the Israel-Hamas conflict began, Biden has faced persistent criticism from the left that his administration has continued to aid Israel as its effort in Gaza has morphed into an alleged genocide.
Photos: Justin Trudeau arrives for Mar-a-Lago meeting
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Friday evening ahead of an expected meeting with President-Elect Donald Trump.
Trump threatened this week to impose major tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China to reduce immigration and drug-smuggling.
Here’s what you need to know.
Retailers warn customers about price hikes from Trump tariffs
Retailers have taken to warning customers to buy products now before the expected price hikes that could come when Donald Trump takes office and puts the sweeping tariffs he has promised into place.
The beauty brand warned customers might face 25 percent higher prices on signature products like a filtered showerhead, while the furnishing company launched a “Pre-Tariff Sale” on Facebook.
“There is a misconception that the countries exporting goods will bear the cost of the tariffs, but that is simply not true,” owner Sydney Arnold told the paper.
More details in our full story.
ICYMI: Biden lays into ‘counterproductive’ Trump tariff threats
Joe Biden has panned Donald Trump’s plan to hit Americans with massive import taxes on goods from Mexico and Canada, hoping his successor will walk back the proposal.
The president was asked about Trump’s plan to hike the cost of Mexican and Canadian products by 25 percent via executive order if both countries did not take steps to curb what he described as unacceptable flows of drugs and migrants into the U.S. across their respective borders.
Biden, who is in Nantucket for his family’s annual Thanksgiving vacation, told reporters: “I hope he rethinks it. I think it’s a counterproductive thing to do.”
Andrew Feinberg reports.
Trump’s former FDA head sounds alarm on RFK Jr’s potential plans for agency
A former Trump administration Food and Drug Administration commissioner is worried that the incoming administration’s pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead a key health agency will prove dangerous.
“I think if RFK follows through on his intentions, and I believe he will, and I believe he can, it will cost lives in this country,” Scott Gottlieb said during a Friday appearance on CNBC’s Squawk Box.
“You’re going to see measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates go down, and like I said, if we lose another 5 percent [of vaccinations], which could happen in the next year or two, we will see large measles outbreaks,” he added.
Josh Marcus reports from San Francisco.
ICYMI: Trump’s cabinet is filling up with Project 2025 authors after he claimed he had ‘no idea’ what it was
Donald Trump said he has “no idea” who’s behind it. His presidential transition chair and the man he picked to be the secretary of commerce said he wouldn’t touch it. “They made themselves nuclear,” he said.
Here’s Alex Woodward’s report, first published earlier this month.
Musk accuses Trump impeachment witness of ‘treason’ and calls for ‘appropriate penalty’
Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man and President-elect Donald Trump’s “first buddy,” took to his social media platform X to ominously accuse the key witness in Trump’s first impeachment of treason while calling for him to “pay the appropriate penalty.”
Justin Barangoa reports.
Source: independent.co.uk