Trump offers blunt, 3-word response after Carney says Canada is ‘not for sale’

WASHINGTON — President Trump had three little words for newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday after the commander-in-chief again said he wanted Canada to be America’s 51st state.

“I say, ‘Never say never,'” the 78-year-old said. “I’ve had many, many things that were not doable and ended up being doable.”

Trump was responding to Carney, 60, telling him that Canada is “not for sale” and that the Canadian view on becoming part of the US “is not going to change.”

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“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” the Liberal PM said.

During a post-meeting news conference at the Canadian Embassy, Carney said he had told Trump behind closed doors to “stop” publicly musing about annexing Canada — but did not reveal what the US president said in response.

“We are masters in our own home,” the prime minister added, “and we can give ourselves far more than any foreign government can ever take away.”

For his part, Trump said he thought the meeting “went very well” and denied there was any tension between him and Carney.

Earlier, in an occasionally strained Oval Office discussion between the two leaders, Trump confirmed that “I still believe” Canada and the US should be more than allies — saying too that Carney could offer nothing to change his mind about new tariffs on America’s northern neighbor.

“No. It’s just the way it is,” Trump said of changing course on his levies.

Trump later gave more extensive commentary on a possible North American political union, calling the US-Canada border an “artificial line” and saying it would lead to a “massive tax cut” for those north of the frontier.

“When you look at that beautiful formation [on a map] when it’s together — I’m a very artistic person — but when I looked at that, I said, ‘That’s the way it was meant to be,'” Trump said.

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“But we’re not going to be discussing that unless somebody wants to discuss it,” he went on, adding that “it really would be a wonderful marriage because it’s two places that get along very well.”

Trump shook hands and smiled with Carney outside the Oval minutes after sending a snarky message on Truth Social questioning the value of US trade with Canada. 

“I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH — Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?” Trump told his followers.

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“We don’t need their Cars, we don’t need their Energy, we don’t need their Lumber, we don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us!” he went on.

“That will be, most likely, my only question of consequence,” the president wrote.

Following the meeting, Carney said he had a very “constructive” talk with Trump — but that he was not expecting “white smoke” on the issues of trade and tariffs and that the two men have “a lot more work to do.”

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“There’ll be zigs and zags,” Carney said of future negotiations, noting the “prospect is there” to get a new trade deal done before doubling down in defense of his country’s sovereignty.

“We are going to reinforce our strength at home,” he said. “We will reinforce Canada’s security for an increasingly dangerous and divided world. We will transform our border security, our security in the Arctic and our support for our allies around the world, we’ll build an economy that creates jobs, grows incomes, and withstand shocks.”

Trump had mocked Carney’s predecessor, Justin Trudeau, as “governor,” saying Canada should become part of America due to the subsidies the US provides the country.

At an afternoon East Room event, Trump acknowledged that he “had a lot of fun” needling Trudeau, but left open whether he would bestow a similar nickname on Carney.

“I haven’t done that yet, and maybe I won’t,” he said.

Trump did display warmth toward Carney in the Oval Office, saying Canadians elected a “very talented person” and a “very good person” to lead their country last week. 

“I thought you were excellent, and I think we have a lot of things in common,” Trump told the PM. “We have some tough, tough points to go over, and that’ll be fine.”

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Carney responded that he was looking forward to discussing trade with Trump and “finding those areas of mutual cooperation.”

Trump praised Carney’s election comeback — saying it may have been even bigger than his own last year — and said the meeting would have a friendly tone, unlike the Feb. 28 sitdown with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which descended into arguing in front of the world’s press.

“We had … a little blowup with somebody else. That was a much different [meeting]. This is a very friendly conversation,” Trump told Carney.

Trump hit Canada earlier this year with a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum, along with a 25% tariff on cars — with a phased-in implementation — and a 25% tariff on all other non-USMCA-compliant goods, which economists have struggled to quantify.

In response, Canada has retaliated with its own levies, imposing a 25% tariff on $30 billion of US goods and hitting all cars not covered by the USMCA trade deal with a 25% tariff.