U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met in the White House today, assisted by several advisors, including Carney’s Chief of Staff Marco Mendicino. Carney was elected as the man who could stand up to Trump. Would he do so, or would he receive the Zelenskyy treatment?
The political media would have us believe that “perception is reality.” The short, edited version of the Oval Office meeting shown on television made Carney appear to hold his own. Trump seemed to treat him with respect, and talked of friendly relations with Canada. Carney repeated the tired line that Canada is not for sale, like the White House and Buckingham Palace. He even criticized the USMCA agreement saying:
“I’ll just say, I’ll say a word on USMCA if I may, Mr. President. It is a basis for a broader negotiation. Some things about it are going to have to change. And part of the way you’ve conducted these tariffs has taken advantage of existing aspects of USMCA. So it’s going to have to change.”
The full video, however, tells a different story. The President dominated, extolling his accomplishments for the U.S. economy, while a nervous Carney, reduced to a very junior discussion partner, struggled to get a word in edgewise. The President not only refused to back down on any of his measures against Canada, he, in fact, reinforced them:
1. He insisted that Canada should become the 51st state, telling Carney “Never say never!”
2. He refused to back down on tariffs, saying that there is nothing Canada could do to alleviate them. “We want to make our own cars. We don’t really want cars from Canada,” Trump said. “And we don’t want steel from Canada because we’re making our own steel,” Trump added, while not mentioning the enormous steel plant closures announced only days before.
The President also praised Carney for increasing defense spending (Canada has fallen far short of a NATO member’s requirements). Afterwards Carney held a press conference, in which he dodged pointed questions, making the nebulous statement, “Today marked the end of the beginning of the process of the United States and Canada redefining that relationship.”
One should not get too caught up in this pairwise relationship though. King Charles is coming to Canada soon to give the Speech from the Throne—only the second time a British monarch has done so. Never discount the manipulations of the British.
