Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met US President Donald Trump on Tuesday in a close encounter at the White House, suggesting future relationships between the two countries and their two leaders.
Over the weekend, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” to use military force on Canadian annex, a major trading partner and political ally. Over the past few months, the president has repeatedly threatened to use economic coercion to undermine Canada and add it to his desire to make it a 51st state.
“I don’t think we’re going to get to that point. Something could happen in Greenland. I don’t see it as Canada. I’m not looking at it. You have to be honest,” he said.
Carney has created much of the federal election campaign regarding Canada’s collective anger over Trump’s threat to the country’s sovereignty. In his victory speech last week, Carney used one of his campaign’s most frequently delivered lines, telling his enthusiastic supporter Trump that he “want to break us so America can own us.”
Carney also used his first post-election press conference to destroy once again the idea that Canada is interested in becoming the 51st state in the United States.
“It’s always important to distinguish desires from reality,” Carney said Friday.