WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump will meet Tuesday with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the man whose country Trump has repeatedly floated as a potential 51st state as he touched off trade disputes with the U.S.’s historically steadfast ally.
Tuesday morning’s meeting marks the first time the two leaders have come face-to-face. It comes just over a week after Canadians backed Carney’s Liberal Party in elections that were widely seen as influenced by the country’s newly tense relationship with its southern neighbor.
Carney, a Trump critic, directly invoked the U.S. president in a victory speech in which he argued that Trump’s comments about Canada becoming a 51st state were “not idle threats.”
“President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us. That will never, that will never, ever happen,” Carney told supporters.
The Canadian prime minister said in a Friday post to X his meeting with Trump would “focus on addressing immediate trade pressures — and the future economic and security relationship between our two sovereign nations.”
The two leaders have previously spoken by phone, and Trump said he congratulated Carney after his victory, calling the prime minister “very nice” during an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
When asked whether Trump would talk with Carney about making Canada a 51st state — a frequent refrain for Trump — the president said, “I’ll always talk about that.”
“When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago — was just an artificial line, goes straight across,” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, referring to maps of the U.S. and Canada. “You don’t even realize what a beautiful country it would be. It would be great.”
Trump’s repeated comments about annexing a sovereign nation and strong U.S. ally has touched off a wave of anti-American sentiment in Canada.
Hockey fans in Canada have booed the American national anthem before games. Some Canadians began boycotting U.S. products. And after the Trump administration hit Canada with tariffs, Canadian politicians fired back with tariffs on U.S. goods.
Trump had argued that tariffs on Canada and Mexico were necessary in part to push the countries to crack down on fentanyl entering the U.S. from their shared borders. Out of the 21,900 pounds of fentanyl seized on the border by U.S. authorities in fiscal year 2024, only 43 pounds were seized on the northern border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data.
On Monday, Carney posted a video to X of him arriving in the U.S., writing that “Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together — and that work starts now.”
Phil Helsel and Jennifer Jett contributed.