19 hours Ago By Postmedia News
Article content Prime Minister Mark Carney’s White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday met the low expectations Carney set for it.
Trump was polite, saying Canada had chosen a “very talented person” in electing Carney, who he described as a “very nice man” adding, “Canada loves us and we love Canada,” and that “regardless of what happens,” the U.S. will always be friends with Canada.
He also made it clear he preferred dealing with Carney to former prime minister Justin Trudeau and his then-finance minister, Chrystia Freeland. In return, Carney described Trump as a “transformational” president focused on the U.S.
economy, the fentanyl crisis, as well as U.S. and global security and defence.
But beyond the mutual exchange of pleasantries, Trump also said there was nothing Carney could do to convince him to immediately end the tariff war he has launched against Canada. He said he’s using tariffs to make it economically unfeasible for automakers and other industries to manufacture their products in Canada, instead of moving production to the U.S.
In a post on his Truth Social before the meeting, Trump repeated his claim that the U.S. doesn’t need Canadian cars, steel, aluminum, energy or lumber and when asked about the issue in the Oval Office, repeated his frequently expressed desire for Canada to become the 51st U.
S. state. When Carney insisted that would never happen, Trump interjected, “Never say never,” prompting Carney to repeat the word “never” five times, later adding that in his discussion with Trump, he asked him to stop referring to Canada as a potential 51st U.
S. state. Following private talks between Trump and Carney and their respective delegations, Carney said the exchange of views was helpful and marked the beginning of a process between Canada and the U.
S. to renegotiate CUSMA — the Canada-U.S.
-Mexico Agreement on trade which is due for review next year — as part of a larger agreement on economic and security issues. In other words, there will be no easy or immediate fix to the ongoing tariff and counter-tariff war between the U.S.
and Canada, which Carney promised to fix during the federal election and the verdict is still out on whether he’ll succeed..
