Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney drew a firm line during his first official meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday, declaring “Canada is not for sale” in response to Trump’s repeated claims that he wants to annex the country as the 51st U.S. state.
Though the leaders maintained a cordial tone during the White House meeting, their positions diverged on key issues. Carney pushed back on Trump’s refusal to lift tariffs on Canadian goods, while Trump dismissed the idea by saying Canada had “nothing that the US wanted.”
Carney, who won the federal election in April on a platform of standing up to Trump, said the conversation laid the groundwork for broader negotiations—particularly on the future of CUSMA, the Canada-US-Mexico trade pact.
Speaking later at the Canadian Embassy, Carney said the encounter marked “the end of the beginning” of a new chapter in U.S.-Canada relations, as the two countries now face the task of redefining cooperation under Trump’s increasingly aggressive agenda.
