PM Carney meets Trump in bid to reset strained Canada-US relations

WASHINGTON – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet Mr Donald Trump in the Oval Office on May 6 in a bid to reset a relationship he says has been undermined by the US President’s tariffs and talk of annexation.

Mr Carney’s Liberal Party won an April 28 election on the back of promises to tackle Mr Trump and create a new bilateral economic and security relationship with the United States. It will be his first in-person meeting as prime minister with Mr Trump.

“It’s important to get engaged immediately... and I’m pleased to have the opportunity for quite a comprehensive set of meetings,” Mr Carney told a press conference on May 2, adding that he expected the talks to be difficult yet constructive.

He played down the idea of immediate breakthroughs.

“Do not expect white smoke out of that meeting,” Mr Carney said, referring to the signal the Vatican sends to indicate a new pope has been chosen.

Mr Carney, a 60-year-old former central banker with no previous political experience, was elected Liberal leader in March to replace Mr Justin Trudeau, who had a poor relationship with Mr Trump. 

Canada is the US’ second-largest individual trading partner after Mexico, and the largest export market for US goods.

More than US$760 billion (S$981 billion) in goods flowed between the two countries in 2024, and while Canada has run a trade surplus of more than US$60 billion in the last two years, most of that stems from its status as the largest foreign supplier of oil to the US.

Mr Trump in March imposed a 25 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminium imports coming into the US and then slapped another 25 per cent tariff on cars and parts that did not comply with a North American free trade agreement.

On May 4, Mr Trump said he would put a 100 per cent tariff on all movies produced outside the US, without giving details, in a potential blow to Canada’s film industry.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview with Fox Business Network’s Kudlow show on May 6, said getting a trade deal with Canada was going to be complex.

Mr Brian Clow, a senior Trudeau aide who was in charge of US relations inside the prime minister’s office for several years, said there was no chance of the tariffs being lifted on May 6.

“This is going to be the beginning of a process and further engagements that hopefully lead to tariffs being lifted... That conversation needs to start, and that’s why this meeting is so important,” he said in a phone interview.

In an interview that aired on NBC News on May 4, Mr Trump called Mr Carney a “very nice man”, yet said he would always talk about making Canada the 51st US state, repeating earlier comments about the United States not needing any Canadian exports. 

Mr Carney says Mr Trump’s tariffs and talk of annexation are a betrayal of the two nations’ traditional longstanding alliance. But he has refrained from insulting Mr Trump and on May 2 described him as one of the world’s best negotiators.

“The personal relationship between the two leaders does really matter, and Prime Minister Carney, coming out of his election, does present an opportunity for a fresh start, a reset to the relationship in ways that I think are good,” said Mr Clow.

Mr Carney has yet to make clear what exactly he means by striking a new economic and security relationship with the United States, which, along with Mexico and Canada, is already a member of the USMCA free trade pact. The three countries are due to review the agreement in 2026.

He also declined to directly answer a question last week on whether substantive talks with Washington could start before Mr Trump lifted tariffs.​ REUTERS