Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada wasn’t leaving something to likelihood when he was packing for his visit to Washington this week — together with, apparently, his neckwear.
“I wore red for you,” he defined to US President Donald Trump, gesturing to his patterned tie coloured to match typical Republican branding, as they shook palms beneath the West Wing Portico.
Trump, it seems, was sporting blue.
After months of tangling on commerce — and trying with out a lot success to neuter Trump’s threats to annex his nation — Carney is nonetheless trying to get on the president’s wavelength. And he may be making some nascent progress.
He entered Tuesday’s talks amid low expectations he’d have the option to efficiently discuss Trump into easing steep tariffs on Canadian items, together with metal, aluminum, vehicles and lumber.
He departed with assurances from Trump that he and his delegation would “walk away happy,” although the US chief refused to clarify what precisely he meant.
“You’ll find out,” he informed reporters.
It all made for a considerably ambiguous go to, coloured neither by the outward acrimony that has come to define recent US-Canada relations nor by pronouncements of main progress on the problems inflicting all of the sourness.
Canada is now the one member of the Group of seven that hasn’t secured a commerce deal to stave off the punitive duties, and the consequences are taking a toll on Canada’s economic system and on Carney’s political standing.
“I think the people of Canada, they will love us again,” Trump predicted, acknowledging the truth that, no less than for now, the neighbors are miffed.
Since coming into workplace final spring, Carney has walked a tightrope along with his American counterpart. He’s tried to decrease the flaming sizzling temperatures set by his predecessor Justin Trudeau, who called Trump’s tariffs “very dumb” and accused him of appeasing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Carney has exchanged textual content messages with Trump on world affairs and, to this point, has prevented being on the receiving finish of any tirades.
At the identical time, he’s tried to push back on Trump’s territorial aspirations, telling him firmly throughout their first Oval Office encounter in May that Canada is “not for sale” and “won’t be for sale, ever.” Trump provided some delicate pushback — “never say never,” he shrugged — however the second was principally defused.
On Tuesday, the sensitive matter arose once more as Carney was attempting to flatter his host’s overseas coverage acumen, itemizing conflicts Trump has efficiently intervened to finish.
Calling his US counterpart a “transformative president,” he started rattling off conflicts between India and Pakistan, and Azerbaijan and Armenia, earlier than trying to conclude with Trump’s newest efforts to dealer peace in Gaza.
“I’m running out of time, but this is in many respects, the most important —,” he started saying.
“The merger of Canada and the United States?” Trump interjected slyly.
“No!” Carney exclaimed with a smile. “That wasn’t where I was going.”
Carney laughed it off, and the assembly proceeded cordially, with Trump doing many of the speaking. But the second nonetheless underscored a nationwide relationship that has significantly deteriorated since Trump arrived again to the White House.
Canadian tourism to the United States has declined sharply. Some shops pulled American merchandise from their cabinets. And amongst many Canadians, a way of betrayal has set in that their closest relationship — bodily, culturally and economically — has turned rancid.
In Trump’s telling, it’s all that closeness that’s making it arduous to make a deal.
“It’s a complicated agreement, more complicated maybe than any other agreement we have on trade. Because, you know, we have natural conflict, we also have mutual love,” he stated in the Oval Office.
Carney, a former central banker identified for implementing environment friendly conferences, didn’t have a lot to say as Trump detoured by way of all method of subjects, from the continuing US authorities shutdown, which he blamed on leaderless Democrats (“They remind me of Somalia.”) to his efforts to clear up Washington, DC (“This place was a raging hellhole.”) to his lack of ability to resolve the conflict in Ukraine (“It’s a crazy thing. I thought that would have been one of the easy ones.”)
It was a distant cry from the final time they met one-on-one on the margins of the G7 that Carney convened in Alberta. After seven minutes of questions, Carney lower the session quick, declaring it was his prerogative as host.
When he did converse Tuesday, he made positive to aspect principally with Trump. After a reporter requested about fentanyl crossing the US-Canada border — the idea for a 35% tariff set by Trump, regardless of comparatively small quantities of the drug crossing into the US from the north — he urged there was nonetheless work to do.
“Any amount is too much. So we’ve gotten it down. It’s down substantially. It’s less than 1%, but it’s – look, it’s still too much,” he stated.
After Trump expressed ambivalence over subsequent yr’s necessary evaluation of the North American commerce settlement, saying it would outcome in bilateral offers with Canada and Mexico — fairly than the multi-country association in place now — Carney stated nothing, regardless of ongoing fears in Canada over the destiny of the plan.
It was an indication that, regardless of their deep disagreements, Carney noticed little profit to derailing the assembly with Trump, no less than in public.
Carney, Trump declared later, “is a nice man but he can be very nasty.”
Well, a reporter wished to know, if he’s such a “great man,” why can’t you make a deal?
“Because I want to be a great man, too,” Trump replied, drawing laughs as they ushered reporters out of the room to proceed their dialog in non-public.