Carney stresses Canada not for sale; Trump firm on tariffs

US President Donald Trump began his first talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday and vowed to bring up “tough points” that are dividing the two countries since Trump imposed tariffs.

Their meeting started with smiles despite Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st US state. The subject quickly came up as they took questions from reporters.

Carney put down the idea firmly. “It's not for sale, it won't be for sale - ever,” he told Trump. “Never say never, never say never,” Trump replied.

The meeting got pretty tense towards the end, Trump dug in his heels on his tariff policy, insisting there was nothing Carney could say to make him change his mind and lift tariffs imposed on Canada.

Shortly before Carney arrived, Trump posted a message on social media.

“I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple truth — why is America subsidising Canada by $200 bn a year, in addition to giving them free military protection? We don’t need anything they have. They, on the other hand, need everything from us!”

Trump appeared to be referring to the trade deficit the US has with Canada due mostly to American imports of Canadian oil. Canada is the US’ second-largest trading partner after Mexico, and the largest export market for US goods. Over $760 bn in goods flowed between the two.