Prime Minister Mark Carney says he will travel to Washington on Tuesday to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time since the April 28 election.
The two are set to discuss Trump’s trade war on Canada, and the talks could set the stage for negotiation of a new trade and security pact with the United States.
Carney took questions from reporters Friday for the first time since securing a minority government in his first federal election.
Asked whether he would insist on the tariffs being lifted as a condition of negotiations with the Trump administration, Carney said he doesn’t want to negotiate in public.
The White House has cited the flow of deadly fentanyl from Canada for imposing tariffs even though only small amounts of the drug have been seized at the northern border.
“There will be difficult discussions,” Carney said in French. “The fentanyl-related tariffs, we don’t understand why they’re still in place.”
Carney campaigned on being the best candidate to deal with Trump’s aggressive push to bolster American manufacturing through massive levies on imports, as well as the president’s threatening statements about making Canada a U.S. state.
Trump toned down his aggressive rhetoric during the election campaign itself and recently referred to Carney as a “very nice gentleman.”
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau spent his last days in office being frequently needled by Trump as the president floated annexation and levied tariffs.
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