U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that his first call with new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney was “extremely productive” and Carney said Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty both in private and public but added that the relationship has changed.
The call came as Trump has declared a trade war on Canada and has threatened to use economic coercion to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, a position that has infuriated Canadians. Trump avoided any mention of that in his social media post and in public remarks later.
“We had a very good conversation. Mark called me,” Trump said. “We had a very very good talk. He’s going through an election. We’ll see what happens.”
Trump didn’t refer to the prime minister as governor as he did with Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau.
The U.S. president, in his social media post, said the two sides “agree on many things and will be meeting immediately after Canada’s upcoming Election to work on elements of Politics, Business, and all other factors, that will end up being great for both the United States of America and Canada.”
Former central banker Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s new prime minister on Friday, and will now try to steer his country through a trade war brought by U.S. President Donald Trump, annexation threats and an expected federal election.
Carney, 59, replaces Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who announced his resignation in January but remained in power until the Liberal Party elected a new leader. Carney is widely expected to trigger a general election in the coming days or weeks.
“We will never, ever, in any way shape or form, be part of the United States. America is not Canada,” Carney said. “We are very fundamentally a different country.”
The governing Liberal Party had appeared poised for a historic election defeat this year until Trump declared economic war and repeatedly has said Canada should become the 51st state. Now the party and its new leader could come out on top.
Carney has said he’s ready to meet with Trump if he shows respect for Canadian sovereignty. He said he doesn’t plan to visit Washington at the moment but hopes to have a phone call with the president soon.