By David Ljunggren
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to meet Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday in a bid to reset a relationship he says has been undermined by the U.S. president’s tariffs and talk of annexation.
Carney’s Liberal Party won an April 28 election on the back of promises to tackle 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 Trump.
“It’s important to get engaged immediately … and I’m pleased to have the opportunity for quite a comprehensive set of meetings,” Carney told a press conference on Friday, adding 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,” Carney said, referring to the signal the Vatican sends to indicate a new Pope has been chosen.
Carney, a 60-year-old ex-central banker with no previous political experience, was elected Liberal leader in March to replace Justin Trudeau, who had a poor relationship with Trump.
Canada is the U.S.’ second-largest individual trading partner after Mexico, and the largest export market for U.S. goods. More than $760 billion in goods flowed between the two countries last year and while Canada has run a trade surplus of more than $60 billion in the last two years, most of that stems from its status as the largest foreign supplier of oil to the U.S.
Trump in March imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports coming into the U.S. and then slapped another 25% tariff on cars and parts that did not comply with a North American free trade agreement.
On Sunday, Trump said he would put a 100% tariff on all movies produced outside the U.S., without giving details, in a potential blow to Canada’s film industry.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in an interview with Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow” show on Monday, said getting a trade deal with Canada was going to be complex.
Brian Clow, a senior Trudeau aide who was in charge of U.S. relations inside the prime minister’s office for several years, said there was no chance of the tariffs being lifted on Tuesday.
“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 Sunday, Trump called Carney a “very nice man”, yet said he would always talk about making Canada the 51st state, repeating earlier comments about the United States not needing any Canadian exports.
Carney says Trump’s tariffs and talk of annexation are a betrayal of the two nations’ traditional long-standing alliance. But he has refrained from insulting Trump and on Friday 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 Clow.
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 next year.
He also declined to directly answer a question last week on whether substantive talks with Washington could start before Trump lifted tariffs.
(With additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Washington; Editing by Nia Williams)
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