New York. US President Donald Trump, whose tariff war has been scaring most countries around the world, is finally starting to back down. Trump has signaled he is backing down by agreeing to hold talks with the prime minister of Canada, which has declared its 51st state.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is meeting Donald Trump on Tuesday for the first time since winning re-election on a promise to stand up to the US president’s tariffs and threats to annex the United States’ northern neighbor.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, 60, who is also the leader of the Liberal Party, has said things will not be the same in the United States under Trump and warned against expecting any immediate deal from the White House meeting.
Trump has started a major trade war with Canada, his main ally and trading partner. He has repeatedly called for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state. He has also threatened to use military force if it doesn’t happen.
Republican Trump called Carney a “very nice gentleman” after the meeting last week, but on Monday said he was “not sure” what Carney wanted to talk about.
He’s coming to see me. I’m not sure what he wants to see me about, but I think he wants to make a deal. “Everybody wants it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump is set to welcome Carney for a luncheon at 11:30 a.m. (1530 GMT) followed by a meeting in the Oval Office.
Trump has imposed a general tariff of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico and region-specific levies on autos. Some of those have been suspended pending negotiations. He has also imposed similar tariffs on steel and aluminum.
Carney has pledged to rebuild Canada’s relationship with the United States in what could be the biggest political and economic shift since World War II. .
“Our old relationship based on ever-increasing integration is over. Now the question is how our nations will cooperate in the future,” Carney said Friday.
The Canadian prime minister also said he would “fight to get the best deal” on tariffs.
But Trump’s most loyal Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, said it would be “really complicated” to reach an agreement.
“They have their socialist regime and it’s basically feeding America,” he told Fox Business on Monday. “That said, I don’t see how it works at all.”
– Key Moment –
The US president involved himself early in the Canadian election with a post on social media. The post said Canada would face “zero tariffs” if it “became the 51st recognized state.”
Pierre Poilivre’s Conservative Party was on track to win the vote, but Trump’s attacks and the departure of unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau changed the contest.
Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in March, had convinced voters that his experience in managing economic crises made him the ideal candidate to defy Trump.
A political newcomer, Carney previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, the latter post he held in 2016. He played a key role in reassuring markets after the Brexit vote.
Carney is known for weighing his words carefully, but he will face a challenge when dealing with the controversial Trump on the US president’s home turf.
“This is a very important moment for him, because he insisted during the election campaign that he could take on Trump,” said Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa.
The Canadian prime minister will also have to avoid the fate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky came under sharp criticism from Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance in February.
“Everyone clearly remembers the fight with Zelensky,” Taylor said. “One thing in Carney’s favor is that he is not Trudeau, the shrewd former prime minister whom Trump despised and despised as the ‘governor’ of Canada.”
The world is also watching, as Carney’s victory in one of two left-leaning candidates in last week’s election may have influenced Trump’s outlook.
Carney’s victory also came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was also angered by Trump’s tariff threats. The re-election victory came just days before the vote was over.
The Canadian prime minister struck a confident tone as he arrived in the US capital. “Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together – and that work starts now,” he said on social media. RSS
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