Trump, Canada’s PM Mark Carney meet at White House amid tariff fight and ‘51st-state’ talk
Updated on
Published on
US President Donald Trump hosted Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, for a half-hour Oval Office debut on 6 May, sealing a surprisingly warm photo-op despite weeks of bruising rhetoric over tariffs and Trump’s suggestion that Canada become America’s “51st state.” Trump praised Carney’s come-from-behind election win as “one of the greatest political comebacks,” while Carney called the president “transformational” but reiterated that Canada was “never for sale.”
Behind the smiles, thorny issues remain. Trump said 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminium and autos will stay until a re-worked successor to USMCA “makes economic sense for America,” adding that statehood would be a “massive tax cut” for Canadians but conceding, “It takes two to tango.” Carney countered that cross-border supply chains make both economies stronger and vowed to “fight” for a deal that safeguards Canadian sovereignty and jobs.
The pair also touched on foreign crises: Trump announced an immediate halt to US air-strikes on Yemen’s Houthis after what he called the rebels’ pledge to stop attacking Red Sea shipping, a claim the group has yet to confirm. Carney will unveil a gender-balanced cabinet on 12 May, and King Charles III is set to open Canada’s Parliament on 27 May in what the PM calls “an historic signal of our sovereignty” before deeper trade talks with Washington begin.
