Trump and Canada's Carney hold high-stakes meeting

US President Donald Trump began his first talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday (US time) and vowed to bring up "tough points" that are dividing the two countries since Trump imposed tariffs.

Their meeting started with smiles and a handshake despite Trump's desire to make Canada the 51st US state, a prospect that has chilled bilateral relations. The subject quickly came up as they took questions from reporters.

"We're not going to be discussing that unless somebody wants to discuss it," Trump said. "It would really be a wonderful marriage."

Carney put down the idea firmly.

"It's not for sale, it won't be for sale - ever," he told Trump in the Oval Office.

"Never say never, never say never," Trump said.

'Llittle blow-up'

Carney at points gripped his hands tightly together and his knee jiggled up and down while Trump spoke in the Oval Office.

"No. It's just the way it is," Trump said when asked if there was anything Carney could say in the meeting that would persuade him to drop car tariffs in particular.

And when the US president pressed his claim that Canadians might one day want to join the United States, Carney raised his hand and pushed back.

"Respectfully, Canadians' view on this is not going to change on the 51st state," said Carney.

A visibly tense Trump then referenced his blazing Oval Office row with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February - if only to insist that there would be no repeat.

"We had another little blow-up with somebody else, that was much different - this is a very friendly conversation," Trump said.

Carney gave a thumbs up to reporters as he left the White House after just over two hours.

Trump, whose tariff policy has rattled world markets, said he and Carney would discuss "tough points," an allusion to the president's belief that the United States can do without Canadian products.

"Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada," he said.

Carney's Liberal Party won the 28 April election on promises to tackle Trump and create a new bilateral economic and security relationship with the United States.

Post slates Canada

Trump slammed Canada on Truth Social for effectively freeloading off the United States just minutes before greeting Carney outside the West Wing.

Liberal leader Carney, 60, won the Canadian election on a pledge to stand up to Trump, saying the United States would never "own us" and warning that ties between the North American neighbours could never be the same.

Republican Trump, 78, has sparked a major trade war with Canada with his tariffs while repeatedly making extraordinary calls for the key NATO ally and major trading partner to become the 51st US state.

Trump said ahead of Carney's arrival that "I very much want to work with him" but pointed to a possibly tense meeting.

"Why is America subsidising Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?" Trump posted on Truth Social.

"We don't need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence."

After his tough talk on the campaign trail, Carney will meanwhile be seeking to cool the temperature and move towards a trade deal.

"Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together - and that work starts now," Carney said on X as he arrived in Washington on Monday night.

Trump slapped general tariffs of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico and sector-specific levies on autos, some of which have been suspended pending negotiations. He has also imposed similar duties on steel and aluminium.

Carney has vowed to remake NATO member Canada's ties with the United States in perhaps its biggest political and economic shift since World War II.

'Old relationship'

"Our old relationship based on steadily increasing integration is over. The questions now are how our nations will cooperate in the future," Carney said in his first post-election press conference on Friday.

The Canadian leader said he would also "fight to get the best deal" on the tariffs.

But Trump's ultra-loyal Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it would be "really complex" to reach a deal.

"They have their socialist regime and it's basically feeding off of America," he told Fox Business on Monday. "I just don't see how it works out perfectly."

The US president inserted himself into Canada's election early on with a social media post saying Canada would face "ZERO TARIFFS" if it "becomes the cherished 51st state".

Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party had been on track to win the vote but Trump's attacks, combined with the departure of unpopular former premier Justin Trudeau, transformed the race.

Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in March, convinced voters that his experience managing economic crises made him the ideal candidate to defy Trump.

The political newcomer previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and in the latter post he played a key role reassuring markets after the 2016 Brexit vote.

Carney is known for weighing his words carefully but he will face a challenge dealing with the confrontational Trump on the US president's home turf.

"This is a very important moment for him, since he insisted during the campaign that he could take on Mr Trump," Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa, told AFP.

The Canadian premier would also have to avoid the fate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who walked into a brutal tongue-lashing from Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February, said Tellier.

But one point in Carney's favour is that he is not Trudeau, the slick former prime minister whom Trump famously loathed and belittled as "governor" of Canada, she added.

-Reuters / AFP