In meeting with Canadian prime minister, Trump praises friendship

After months of bashing the United States’ northern neighbors, President Donald Trump lavished praise on Canada, saying in an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: “Regardless of anything, we’re going to be friends with Canada.”

Trump had stirred anger with the ally by imposing 25% tariffs on many goods imported from Canada, and he has mused often about making Canada the “51st state.”

Carney, a liberal, led his comments – as many other visiting world leaders have – with flattery of Trump during the Tuesday meeting. But Carney made clear his country would never join the U.S. as a state, nor would the tariffs Trump imposed be sustainable for either country.

Trump also said during the meeting that the U.S. would end its bombings of Houthi rebels in Yemen. The president was slated to participate in a meeting later Tuesday of the task force that will oversee preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Trump argued in the meeting that the U.S. maintains an advantage over foreign nations hit with tariffs by his administration.

“This is the market where everyone wants to be,” Trump said. “We don’t have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now … if we want it. We don’t have to sign. They have to sign deals with us,” Trump said.

The president’s tariff threats have rocked markets, with Wall Street seeing its biggest plunge since 2020 when he announced a wave of new import taxes in April – a plan expected to cost U.S. consumers and businesses hundreds of billions.

“They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market. We don’t care about their market,” Trump continued, adding that in the next two weeks, members of his administration would “put very fair numbers down” to negotiate trade deals with other countries.

Carney again pushed back on Trump’s assertion that Canadians might warm up to becoming the 51st state “over a period of time,” telling him that “respectfully,” Canadian views on the topic are “not going to change.” Public opinion surveys show Canadians overwhelmingly reject the idea.

When asked in the meeting if the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the trilateral trade agreement with Canada and Mexico negotiated during Trump’s first term, was dead, Trump said it was a “very effective” but “transitional” deal away from the North American Free Trade Agreement.

“No, it was actually very effective, and it’s still very effective,” Trump said. “… People haven’t followed it, but it was a transitional step, a little bit. And, as you know, it terminates fairly shortly.”

Trump called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement “a very positive step from NAFTA” – the preceding trilateral trade deal with Mexico and Canada that went into effect in 1994.

“NAFTA was the worst trade deal in the history of our country, probably in the history of the world. And, this was a transitional deal,” Trump continued, adding, “We’re going to be starting to possibly renegotiate that, if it’s even necessary. I don’t know that it’s necessary anymore, but it served a very good purpose.”