Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to brief Canada’s premiers today following his seemingly successful first meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
Carney and Trump spent about two hours together at the White House, including about half an hour in front of the cameras in the Oval Office, and a private luncheon.
Both leaders were accompanied by senior members of their cabinets and their chiefs of staff.
It was their first face-to-face discussion about U.S.-Canada relations and Trump’s ongoing trade war since Carney was sworn in as prime minister on March 14.
Both leaders emerged from it appearing pleased with how it had gone, with Trump indicating he liked Carney and that there had been no tension during their talks.
Carney said the leaders are now “fully engaged,” but that there’s “a lot more work to do.”
The prime minister said he will host a call with Canada’s premiers Wednesday to discuss his conversation with Trump and the work that needs to be done.
Carney said he and Trump agreed to have further conversations in the coming weeks. That will include another in-person discussion in June when Carney hosts G7 leaders, including Trump, at a summit in Alberta.
“Really, today marked the end of the beginning of a process of the United States and Canada redefining that relationship of working together,” Carney said.
“The question is how we will co-operate in the future. How we can build an economic and security relationship built on mutual respect, built on common interests that delivers transformational benefits to our economies.”
Carney made clear that the two had met as the leaders of “sovereign nations” having told Trump in public and private multiple times that Canadians are not interested in becoming American, and that that will never change.
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He said in his meeting with the premiers, Canada will focus on what it can control.
“We are going to reinforce our strength at home,” Carney said, noting that his government will reinforce security and boost the economy.
Fen Hampson, professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University and co-chair of the Expert Group on Canada-U.S. Relations, said Carney has to manage a “two-track set” of negotiations moving forward.
He will have to face upcoming negotiations on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico trade agreement, which is scheduled to be reviewed in 2026, but Trump has indicated he wants reopened sooner. Then there is the “more immediate” negotiating challenge of getting tariffs lifted.
“That’s the first order of the day because I think he recognizes, our government recognizes, that you can’t be renegotiating NAFTA when essentially the Americans have broken the back of the agreement with these very punitive tariffs, particularly our manufacturing sector,” Hampson said.
Carney said at his press conference Tuesday that, with respect to the importance of re-establishing a constructive relationship for negotiations of an economic and security partnership, he looks “forward not back” and thinks the leaders established a “good basis.”
While Trump said Tuesday that there was nothing Carney could say to get him to lift the tariffs immediately, Hampson said the president is “quite capable” of changing his mind.
“We’ve seen that before in many cases, we’ve even seen it with tariffs. He’s imposed tariffs and then lowered them or delayed them,” Hampson said.
What’s going to work in Canada’s favour, Hampson said, is that the American economy is “about to tank” as a result of tariffs imposed on Canada and other countries, like China. Hampson said the challenge will be getting Trump to understand the importance of Canada’s market.
Carney is expected to name a new cabinet next week, ahead of the return of Parliament at the end of the month.
Hampson said he suspects the prime minister will be making some changes to his core team and that he’s going to have to pick people who are who are “tough and good negotiators.”
“As he looks to potential cabinet appointments, he really needs to look at them not just in terms of their management and ministerial skills, but in terms of their negotiating skills because they’re going to have to do some of the negotiating,” Hampson said.
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