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Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday in an effort to revive a crucial trading relationship with the US that Ottawa’s leader recently described as “over”.
It will be Carney’s first foreign visit since his Liberal party won a general election on Monday after a campaign overshadowed by the US president’s taunts about Canada and his tariffs on some of its exports.
Carney in Ottawa on Friday said he had held a “very constructive call” with Trump and the two leaders had agreed to meet next week in the US capital.
“Our focus will be on both the immediate trade pressures, and the broader future economic and security relationship between our two sovereign nations,” he said.
Carney also announced King Charles would deliver a speech to open the new parliament in Ottawa later this month.
“This historic honour matches the weight of our times,” Carney said of the visit by the king, who is also Canada’s sovereign. It will be the first time in nearly 50 years that the monarch takes part in parliament’s opening.
Carney was speaking at his first press conference since his Liberals defeated Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative party after a campaign dominated by the debate about Trump and Canada’s relationship with its most important trading partner.
Trump’s mockery of Canada and its former prime minister Justin Trudeau, as well as the president’s threats to annex the country — which he described as a potential “51st state” — propelled the Liberal party from a distant second in polls last year to victory this week.
Relations between the two allies and trading partners have been rocked by the tariffs announcement despite the US-Mexico-Canada free trade deal that the president negotiated during his first term.
Carney vowed in a speech after his win on Monday that Trump would “never break” Canada, and said Ottawa would look to forge new trading alliances with countries in Europe and elsewhere.
The prime minister on Friday said his meeting in the White House would address “complex” US tariffs affecting Canada’s automotive, steel and aluminium industries.
“I go there with the expectation of difficult but constructive conversations,” he said.
Carney, who was previously the governor of the Bank of England, said Trump had made no reference to Canada becoming a US state on their telephone all.
“This will never, ever happen,” the prime minister said.
Carney, who will lead a minority government after his party narrowly missed winning a majority of seats in parliament, outlined his vision to “advance the nation-building investments that will transform our economy”.
US tariffs are affecting Canada’s economy.
General Motors on Friday said it would cut production at a plant in Ontario that the union said would result in more than 2,000 job losses. In April, carmaker Stellantis announced it was “temporarily pausing production” for two weeks.
“We are fighting hard for our auto sector, all our sectors, in these negotiations with the Americans,” Carney said.
Goldy Hyder, chief executive of the Business Council of Canada, on Tuesday said the USMCA remained the best framework “to restore the certainty, stability and predictability” of the countries’ commercial relationship.
Carney said Canada’s new cabinet would be sworn in during the week of May 12 and parliament would be recalled for the King’s speech on May 27.
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