President Trump met with newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday, just one week after Carney’s Liberal Party secured victory in that country’s election.
Carney’s visit to Washington began with a focus on rebuilding economic ties, once a hallmark of U.S.-Canada cooperation. Ahead of the meeting, Carney had signaled the agenda would include pressing trade concerns and discussions about the broader economic and security partnership between the two independent nations; and he posted on X shortly after landing in the U.S. capital that “Our countries are at their best when we collaborate. That effort starts now.”
During their meeting in the Oval Office, Carney’s remarks included Canadian sovereignty, telling Trump that “his country is not for sale.” The statement came in response to the U.S. president’s repeated suggestions that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
After Carney stated that “there are places in this world that are simply not up for sale,” Trump responded in a light-hearted (yet persistent) tone: “never say never.” Trump also emphasized that the U.S.-Canada relationship remains fundamentally strong, telling reporters that “No matter what happens, we’ll always be friends with Canada.”
Tensions between the countries escalated in March when the Trump administration imposed a 25% import tariff on Canadian goods not covered under the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement). Trump claimed the move was a response to Canada’s failure to curb illegal migration and fentanyl smuggling across the border. In retaliation, Canada enacted tariffs on a wide range of American imports.
Carney’s Liberal Party campaign leaned heavily into criticism of Trump’s trade policies, with Carney—once governor of the Bank of Canada—calling the tariffs a “betrayal” and a significant deviation from the historically stable U.S.-Canada relationship.
Editorial credit: bella1105 / Shutterstock.com