WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Canada’s new prime minister was far less confrontational than his interactions with the country’s previous leader, Justin Trudeau, even as Mark Carney reiterated on Tuesday that there is no way the country will become part of the United States.
“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” said Carney, a former banker, as Trump chimed in to agree. “We’re sitting in one right now, Buckingham Palace, you visited as well, and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it’s not for sale. Won’t be for sale ever.”
The two leaders complimented each other multiple times during the meeting, a stark contrast from Trump’s icy relationship with Trudeau, whom he regularly taunted as “Governor Trudeau.”
But it remains to be seen whether this comity will last, and whether Carney will be able to use the initial goodwill to turn down some of Trump’s pressure on his country when it comes to trade and Canada’s sovereignty.
Even as Carney insisted his country wasn’t ever going to be for sale, Trump replied, “Never say never.”
The heightened tensions between the two longtime allies following Trump’s vow to impose sweeping tariffs on Canada have sparked a wave of anti-American government sentiment that contributed to Carney’s electoral victory last month.
At the start of leaders’ remarks to journalists, Trump said that he had “a lot of respect” for Carney, and Carney praised Trump’s hospitality and leadership.
“We’re going to be friends with Canada,” Trump said, striking a friendlier tone with the country that attracted his ire over the past several months.
In a victory speech shortly after his Liberal Party claimed victory in last week’s election, Carney argued that Trump’s comments about Canada becoming a 51st state were “not idle threats.”
“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never, that will never, ever happen,” Carney told supporters.
Shortly before the two leaders were set to meet, Trump fired off a Truth Social post criticizing Canada and claiming that the U.S. doesn’t “need ANYTHING they have other than their friendship.”
“We don’t need their Cars, we don’t need their Energy, we don’t need their Lumber, we don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain,” Trump wrote. “They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us! The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence.”
The U.S. imports hundreds of billions in goods from Canada, including auto parts, crude oil, lumber and aluminum.
The new U.S. tariffs on Canada, along with Trump’s repeated comments about annexing the sovereign nation, have touched off a wave of anti-American sentiment in Canada.
Hockey fans in Canada have booed the American national anthem before games. Some Canadians began boycotting U.S. products. And after the Trump administration hit Canada with tariffs, Canadian politicians fired back with tariffs on U.S. goods.
Trump had argued that tariffs on Canada and Mexico were necessary in part to push the countries to crack down on fentanyl entering the U.S. from their shared borders. Out of the 21,900 pounds of fentanyl seized on the border by U.S. authorities in fiscal year 2024, only 43 pounds were seized on the northern border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
On Monday, Carney posted a video to X of him arriving in the U.S., writing that “Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together — and that work starts now.”
