Carney Tells Trump That Canada ‘Is Not for Sale’ During Visit to the White House

Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada had one key goal in his high-stakes meeting with President Trump on Tuesday: say, in no uncertain terms, that Canada is not going to become the 51st state, while avoiding a public fight.

And he succeeded.

“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are not for sale,” Mr. Carney said solemnly. “It’s not for sale. It won’t be for sale, ever,” he added.

“Never say never,” Mr. Trump replied. But the moment’s potency had been defused, and Mr. Trump clearly was not interested in having a fight with Mr. Carney, whom he praised for a stunning electoral victory just a few days ago.

The relationship between the next-door neighbors, allies and top trading partners has been at a historic low since Mr. Trump’s re-election, because of his decision to impose tariffs on Canadian goods and his constant refrain that he wants to make Canada part of the United States.

Less than an hour before Mr. Carney arrived at the White House, Mr. Trump unloaded on Canada in a bellicose post on Truth Social, repeating his frequent criticisms that the country was too dependent on the United States.

“We don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain,” Mr. Trump wrote. “They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us!”

But Mr. Trump struck a much more conciliatory tone once the two leaders sat down together in the Oval Office. Mr. Trump congratulated Mr. Carney on his election, praising the campaign he ran as “one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics.” (He did not mention that Mr. Carney won on an anti-Trump platform).

“We have some tough points to go over, and that’ll be fine,” Mr. Trump said.

As the public portion of the meeting came to a close, Mr. Trump contrasted this meeting with the disastrous one that Mr. Carney took pains to avoid: the Oval Office meeting in February between Mr. Trump and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine.

“We had another little blow up with somebody else,” Mr. Trump said. “That was a much different. This is, this is a very friendly conversation.”

Mr. Carney spoke just three times over the course of a half-hour meeting in front of the cameras. Mr. Trump dominated the airtime, mostly with comments that veered off topic.

After their public remarks in the Oval Office, the two leaders went on to a private working lunch, flanked by some of their top advisers and ministers. That is most likely be where the substantive conversation about the future of the relationship would begin, although there were no expectations that a breakthrough would be reached in Tuesday’s meeting.

Canada and the United States share, together with Mexico, a free-trade agreement that now lays in tatters; Mr. Trump has said that trade with Canada overly favors Canada and hurts the United States.

Mr. Carney said that the discussions between the two of them would take time, and would extend well beyond trade issues to encompass other areas such as security and defense.