Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Donald Trump on Tuesday that his country will never be for sale, shutting down the U.S. president’s repeated calls to make Canada the 51st state.
“There are some places that are never for sale,” Carney said in the Oval Office.
Canada is “not for sale” and “won’t be for sale ever,” the prime minister said.
Trump replied: “Never say never.”
The exchange showed the newly elected prime minister refusing to budge on an issue that has created a swell of Canadian pride and fueled anger against the U.S. Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, was a frequent target of Trump’s ire.
Trump also expressed impatience with those asking him about the status of trade deals that his administration says are taking shape in private with numerous countries.
“Everyone says, ‘When, when? When are you going to sign deals?’ We don’t have to sign deals,” Trump said. “They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market.”
Asked if Carney’s rejection of his statehood idea made trade talks between the U.S. and Canada more difficult, Trump said that it did not.
But “time will tell,” Trump added. “It’s only time. But I say, never say never.”
Carney later made his stance even clearer. “Respectfully, Canadians’ view on this is not going to change on the 51st state,” he said.
The back-and-forth followed mostly cordial remarks between Trump and Carney, and both leaders kept a polite disposition while reiterating their positions.
Shortly before Carney’s arrival at the White House, however, Trump sharply questioned the United States’ trade relationship with Canada.
Trump said on Truth Social that he was looking forward to meeting and working with Carney, but that he “cannot understand” why the U.S. is “subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?”
Trump has long complained about U.S. trade deficits with its trading partners, and he has previously lobbed similar claims against Canada. A Trump official told CNN in January that Trump’s $200 billion claim was mostly based on U.S. defense spending that Canada benefits from, with the remainder coming from the trade deficit with Canada.
America’s trade deficit with Canada was $63.3 billion last year, with more than $400 billion worth of Canadian goods imported to the U.S., according to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
“We don’t need their Cars, we don’t need their Energy, we don’t need their Lumber, we don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain,” Trump wrote in the post.
“They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us! The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence,” Trump wrote.
The unfriendly welcome for Carney came one day after Trump downplayed expectations for the meeting.
“He’s coming to see me. I’m not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does,” Trump said Monday in response to a question about Carney’s visit.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick painted Canada as little more than an economic leech on the United States.
“They have been basically feeding off of us for decades upon decades upon decades,” Lutnick said in a Fox Business interview, the day before Carney’s visit. “They have their socialist regime and it’s basically feeding off of America.”
Last year, Canada traded with the United States more than any other country except Mexico, with total goods trade totaling roughly $762 billion, according to USTR.
But the trade relationship has faltered as Trump has imposed steep tariffs on Canadian goods.
Canadian exports to the United States dropped 6.6% in March, while its exports to other countries shot up nearly 25%, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
Trump’s tariffs, coupled with his expansionist calls for America to absorb Canada as a state and his regular insults and accusations, have upended Canadian politics.
Carney’s Liberal Party won enough seats last week in parliament to form the next government, after months of trailing behind conservatives in polls. Three months into Trump’s term, the Canadian election was seen as a rejection of Trump and surge in Canadian pride.
Bruce Heyman, the former U.S. ambassador to Canada, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier Tuesday that the meeting holds high stakes for both Carney and Trump, who has promised that he can negotiate advantageous trade deals with individual countries.
