President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met in person for the first time Tuesday and clashed over the president’s ongoing rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state but maintained it wouldn’t interfere with talks between the two countries.
“There are some places that are never for sale,” Carney said moments after he arrived at the White House and adding of Canada, “It’s not for sale, it won’t be for sale ever.”
Trump, meanwhile, continued to stand by his threat but acknowledged “it takes two to tango” even as he repeatedly couldn’t resist needling his new counterpart.
At times, Trump claimed annexation would be good for Canadians and added, “Never say never … over time, we’ll see what happens.”
The remarks came during a meeting that started out friendly between the two men but featured moments of clear contention as the complicated issues between the two nations were on display during a bilateral meeting.
President Donald Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as he arrives at the White House on May 6. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) ·JIM WATSON via Getty Images
The front-and-center issue is clearly tariffs and negotiations set for the coming year over the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement.
Trump said at one point there was nothing Carney could tell him to change his views of tariffs on Canada while the Canadian tried to steer the conversation toward the “bigger discussion” in the coming months over trade that will take longer.
The economic stakes are high for the talks to come, as Canada is the top purchaser of US goods exports, according to the US Trade Representative.
Likewise, the US is Canada’s top trading partner, and Canada faces a variety of tariffs even after being excluded from Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” duties.
The country faces a 25% tariff on goods that don’t comply with the USMCA agreement, as well as sector-specific duties on key industries like steel and aluminum, cars, and lumber.
Still, the two men repeatedly offered praise of each other, with Trump saying at one point “this is very friendly” and seeming to contrast the gathering favorably against an Oval Office shouting match in February between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Candace Laing of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce summed up the meeting as “a relationship reset” and offered hope in a statement that it could lead to “momentum toward a reliable, close economic and security relationship.”
The back and forth came as Trump aides continued to try and send positive signals on global trade negotiations.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent repeated during a congressional hearing Tuesday morning that discussions were ongoing with 17 of 18 major trading partners (excluding China) and that “perhaps as early as this week we will be announcing trade deals with some of our largest trading partners.”
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
But Canada has appeared to be further down on the administration’s list, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick recently saying in a Fox News appearance that a deal with Canada “could be really complex” — suggesting this week’s meeting would be interesting but “I just don’t see how it works out so perfect.”
President Donald Trump meets with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the Oval Office on May 6. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) ·Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images
The president also criticized Justin Trudeau, Carney’s predecessor as prime minister, saying he didn’t like him and that he and Trudeau “had a bad relationship.”
The visit came just days after Carney was elected on April 28 to formally succeed Trudeau.
Carney won on a largely anti-Trump platform and with a victory that capped off a remarkable turnabout for the leader and the Liberal Party of Canada, which had badly trailed the conservatives at the start of the year.
Trump’s tariffs and those repeated threats to make Canada “the 51st state” are widely seen as rallying a wave of anti-Trump sentiment to Carney’s side.
Carney has rejected Trump’s repeated suggestions that Canada should become the 51st US state, saying in his recent victory speech, “These are not idle threats: President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us.”
“That will never, that will never ever happen,” he added.
Trump even joked about his influence as Tuesday’s meeting kicked off, saying, “I think I was probably the greatest thing to happen to him, but I can’t take full credit.”
Carney has a long background in finance, including stints as a governor at both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England as well as roles at Goldman Sachs.
This post has been updated.
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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