A critical meeting at the white house is underway.
It is Prime Minister Mark Carney’s second in-person visit to Washington, D.C., to talk to President Donald Trump.
The two leaders spoke to reporters ahead of their chat on Tuesday, largely focusing on trade and exchanging a few compliments for each other.
Trump has recently announced more tariffs heading to heavy duty trucks, and other levies have already drastically impacted the Canadian economy. A new trade deal would be consequential.
Trump said it was an honour to have Carney visiting, and the Prime Minister reiterated what he told Trump the last time he was at the white house.
“I said at the time, you were are a transformative president, and since then, the transformation in the economy, unprecedented commitments of NATO partners to defence spending, peace from India, Pakistan through to Azerbaijan, Armenia, disabling Iran as a force of terror…”
Trump interjected to joke about Canada merging with the United States, but Carney laughed and said that wasn’t what he was going to say.
Instead, the Prime Minister said that the leaders were meeting on Oct. 7, the two-year anniversary of when Hamas attacked Israel, and that Canada stands behind “the prospect of peace that you’ve made possible,” Carney said.
Carney left most of the speaking to Trump, who mostly answered questions from reporters related to Republican policies. Carney jumped in when trade or U.S.-Canada relations came up.
‘Natural conflict’
Later, Trump said the U.S. and Canada have a natural trade conflict, because the countries compete for business.
“It’s a natural business conflict. Nothing wrong with it. And I think we’ve come a long way over the last few months, actually, in terms of that relationship.
Carney chimed in to describe the relationship, adding that Canada is the second largest trading partner with the United States and the largest foreign investor, and Carney expected that investment to grow from about $500 billion in the last five years to $8 trillion if “we get the agreement that we expect to get.”
But he said, yes, Canada and the U.S. do sometimes compete, and that is why they need a trade agreement.
“We’re going to get the right deal, right deal for America, right deal, obviously, from my perspective, for Canada,” said Carney.
Trump did not promise a new trade deal, but he said Canada would walk away from these meetings happy.
“I think the people of Canada, they will love us again,” said Trump.
