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Canadian prime minister’s Oval Office test comes a week after being elected on an anti-Trump platform
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President Donald Trump and newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney came face-to-face at the White House on Tuesday for a high-stakes meeting.
Just days after winning an election campaign with an aggressive focus on Trump, Carney said he would make a bid for a comprehensive deal on trade and national security, while hoping to reset frayed U.S.-Canada relations.
Trump, meanwhile, played the upper hand, claiming the U.S. doesn’t need ‘anything’ from Canada except ‘friendship,’ but Canada needs ‘everything’ from the U.S.
The high-stakes meeting between the two leaders is set against the backdrop of Trump’s repeated threats to annex Canada and the imposition of sweeping 25 percent tariffs.
During their Oval Office meeting, Trump once again said he would like to see Canada become the 51st state.
But, Carney pushed back, saying Canada is “not for sale” and “won’t be for sale, ever.” He reiterated that Canadians will never change their mind about joining the U.S.
“Never say never,” Trump responded.
Carney mouthed the words “never” to the press.
As he did with much of the bilateral meeting, Trump did not give Carney a chance to respond to a statement that he posed earlier today on Truth Social about the U.S. and Canada’s trade relationship before ending the meeting.
“Why are we subsidizing Canada $200 billion a year, or whatever the number might be – it’s a very substantial number. It’s hard for the American taxpayer to say ‘gee wiz,’ we love doing that,” Trump said before ushering media out of the Oval Office.
Carney, who appeared ready to respond to Trump’s comment, did not get the chance to answer.
It was a similar statement to that Trump made earlier in the day on Truth Social, just moments before meeting with Carney.
The president has consistently called the trade deficit between Canada and the U.S. “unfair” and believes Canada should invest more in the U.S. As a punishment, Trump has implemented tariffs on the U.S.’s northern neighbor and largest trading partner.
Throughout the meeting, Trump ranted about tariffs and Canada but jumped from point to point, refusing to give Carney much time to interject.
President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the U.S. would call off airstrikes against Yemen’s Houthis, saying they had “capitulated.
“We will stop the bombings. They have capitulated but more importantly, we will take their word,” Trump said at the start of the meeting with Carney.
The Trump administration had been launching strikes against Houthi rebels who have targeted U.S. ships.
“I think that’s very positive. They were knocking out a lot of ships,” Trump said.
After Trump again floated the idea of making Canada the 51st State of the U.S., Carney quickly shut down any possibility, saying, “Canada is not for sale” and “won’t be for sale, ever.”
The U.S. president once again floated the plan during the bilateral meeting, saying the possibility of merging the two countries would create a “wonderful marriage.”
But Carney quickly stepped in to say that would never happen.
“Never say never,” Trump replied.
Carney smiled and mouthed “never.”
Over the last few months, Trump has consistently teased the U.S.’s northern neighbor that the U.S. will take it over. That behavior pushed Canadians toward a more nationalist feeling, ultimately helping Carney win the election.
President Donald Trump started the bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney joking that he is “probably the greatest thing that happened to him.”
After congratulating Carney on his recent win, Trump acknowledged that his recent aggressive behavior toward Canada helped Carney’s party, the Liberals, make a comeback.
The Conservative Party of Canada was almost 23 points ahead of the Liberals in the polls in January.
“I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him,” Trump joked.
Carney responded with a funny look to reporters.
The president called Carney’s win “one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics,” including his own.
President Donald Trump welcomed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to the White House for the first time on Tuesday.
The two shook hands and smiled in a brief photo-op before heading inside the White House for a more formal meeting.
Just moments before he is expected to meet with Mark Carney, the newly elected Prime Minister of Canada, Trump took to Truth Social to complain about the unfair balance between Canada and the U.S.
“I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH — Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?”
“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. 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.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reportedly blocked military aid flights to Ukraine within days after Donald Trump entered office without the administration knowing.
An order from the U.S. military told freight airlines at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and a U.S. base in Qatar to halt 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weapons bound for Ukraine, according to Reuters.
That verbal order reportedly came from Hegseth’s office, according to U.S. Transportation Command records reviewed by Reuters, sparking mass confusion across Washington, D.C. and in Kyiv, underscoring what officials and critics have warned is a Pentagon in disarray and driven by haphazard decision-making .
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On Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent faced tough questions from lawmakers about the president’s tariff plan, which has rattled U.S. stock markets and concerned consumers.
Bessent told lawmakers there have not been any negotiations with China on tariffs despite Trump claiming there have been talks.
However, he did say there have been negotiations with 17 out of 18 of the U.S.’s largest trading partners.
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Canadian prime minister tells Trump the country ‘won’t be for sale ever’: Live – The Independent
