Donald Trump said he “wanted (s) to be friends with Canada” after his first post -electoral meeting with the Prime Minister of the country, Mark Carney – who used the rally to shoot down any prospect that his country becomes the 51st state.
Speaking in the oval office, Trump congratulated Carney – whose Liberal Party won the federal elections last week – for one of the “greatest political feedback of all time”, and described the Prime Minister’s visit as “an honor” for the White House.
The friendly tone of Tuesday’s meeting has marked a striking contrast with Trump’s hostile rhetoric in recent months, when he launched a trade war against his neighbor in the North, lowered Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, and made repeated threats to crush the economy of Canada in order to annex it.
Carney made the praise, telling Trump that he was a “transformational president” with a strong emphasis on the economy. But he killed any idea that Canada could access it to the United States as a 51st state – a proposal again launched by Trump at the meeting.
“As you know in real estate, there are places that are never for sale,” Carney told Trump.
“It’s true,” said Trump.
“Having met the owners of Canada during the campaign … It’s not for sale,” said Carney. “I won’t be for sale, never.”
“Never say,” said Trump. Carney smiled and blocked “never, never, never,” never “.
The meeting between the Prime Minister and the President is probably the most monitored summit in Canada’s history, in the midst of fears of a new diplomatic and commercial friction between two countries that have traditionally shared political and cultural values.
A few minutes before the meeting, Trump posted on social networks that he wanted “a lot” to work with Carney, but has revived a divert figure that the United States “subsidizes Canada of $ 200 billion a year, in addition to offering them free military protection”.
“We don’t need their cars, we don’t need their energy, we don’t need their wood, we don’t need anything, except for their friendship, which we always hope to maintain,” he wrote. “They, however, need everything of us!” The Prime Minister will arrive shortly and it will most likely be my only question of consequences. ”
Carney has designed a large part of his successful federal electoral campaign around a patriotic challenge against the threats of the American president to the country’s sovereignty. The Prime Minister has repeatedly accused Trump of trying to “break” Canada so that he could “own” the country. Carney also used its first post-electoral press conference to cancel any idea once again that Canada was interested in becoming the 51st US state, a proposal launched by Trump several times.
“It is always important to distinguish lack of reality,” said Carney last week. But Carney has completely avoided criticizing the president personally, perfectly aware that the two countries also share a closely integrated economy, with more than $ 1 CA (725 billion US dollars) for trade – and that American diplomacy depends more than ever on the whims of its president.
The country’s commercial relationship appeared at the meeting, Trump pointed out that it was interested in renegotiating the key aspects of the USMCA free trade agreement, calling for the previous agreement, the Alena, the “worst of world history”.
“We will face the concepts more at the moment,” said Trump later at the meeting, telling journalists that he didn’t want Canadian cars or steel. “We want to do it ourselves.”
When he was asked if there was something Carney could tell him that he would make her raised prices in Canada, Trump replied, “No.”
Carney rejected Trump’s characterization of the current agreement, including the use of prices by American officials, but agreed that the existing agreement was a “framework” for future discussions and a “greater discussion”.
The Prime Minister later described his discussions with Trump as “very constructive” and said they would do it at the G7 top in Canada next month.
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He also told journalists that he had asked Trump to stop referring to Canada as part of the United States.
“I told him that it was not useful to repeat this idea, but the president will say what he wanted,” said Carney.
The best commercial and diplomatic officials in the country have traveled with Carney, notably the international trade minister Dominic Leblanc, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, the Minister of Public Security, David McGuinty and the Canada Ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman.
Sitting alongside Trump was his vice-president, JD Vance; US Secretary of State Marco Rubio; The American Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick; And the representative of American trade Jamieson Greer.
Trump, who sometimes used the meeting to attack the former American president Joe Biden, also used the forum to criticize Trudeau and the former finance minister Chrystia Freeland.
“She was terrible. In fact, she was a terrible person, and she really hurt this agreement because she tried to take advantage of the agreement and she didn’t get out,” said Trump.
Before Carney and Trump meet in the White House, Canadian provincial leaders weighed.
“This guy drives me crazy,” said Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford about Trump. “You see this guy on television,” we don’t need Canada. ” Really? “He said, telling participants that Canada’s largest trading partner had desperately needed potash, nickel and uranium.
Ford, a populist curator who adopted his anti-Trump patriotic figure role, said that an increasing number of American governors “totally disagree” with the president’s trade war with his neighbor in the North.
Ford has underlined new polls that show a drop in Trump’s approval rating because the cost of prices has hit American consumers.
“I cannot wait for the mid-term. Then we will repair his little red wagon,” he said.
