Trump meets new Canadian PM, who tells him Canada is not for sale

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump struck a cordial tone in their first discussion at the White House on Tuesday, even as Trump repeated his vision of Canada as the 51st US state and made clear that he did not wish to lift tariffs on Canadian imports.

“Regardless of anything, we’re going to be friends with Canada,” Trump said, calling Carney “a talented person” and noting that the two of them had “a lot of things in common”.

But Trump also reiterated his desire for Canada to become part of the US, promoting it as an opportunity for Canadians to get “tremendous benefits” like lower taxes and free military protection.

When Carney responded by saying that Canada was “never for sale”, Trump replied, “never say never” – later adding that he would respect the wishes of the Canadian people while noting that they still had a “period of time” to decide.

And when asked if there was anything Carney could say to get him to lift tariffs on Canada, Trump said “No … just the way it is”.

“We want to make our own cars. We don’t really want cars from Canada … And we don’t want steel from Canada because we’re making our own steel,” the president added.