Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told President Donald Trump on Tuesday that his country would never be for sale, closing the American president’s repeated calls to make Canada the 51st state.
“There are places that are never for sale,” said Carney in the oval office.
Canada is “not for sale” and “will never be for sale,” said the Prime Minister.
Trump replied: “Never say.”
The exchange followed mainly the initial cordial remarks between Trump and Carney, and the two leaders kept a polished provision while reiterating their positions.
Shortly before Carney’s arrival at the White House, Trump strongly questioned the trade relations of the United States with Canada.
Trump said on Social truth That he was looking forward to meeting and working with Carney, but that he “cannot understand” why the United States “subsidize Canada of $ 200 billion a year, in addition to offering them free military protection, and many other things?”
Trump has long complained about American trade deficits with his business partners, and he has previously launched similar complaints against Canada. A Trump official said to cnn In January, Trump’s $ 200 billion complaint was mainly based on American defense expenses from which Canada benefits, the rest from the trade deficit with Canada.
The American trade deficit with Canada was $ 63.3 billion last year, with more than $ 400 billion in Canadian products imported into the United States, according to the office of the US trade representative.
“We don’t need their cars, we don’t need their energy, we don’t need their wood, we don’t need anything, apart from their friendship, which, we hope, we will still keep,” Trump wrote.
“They, however, need everything of us! The Prime Minister will arrive shortly and it will most likely be my only question of consequences,” wrote Trump.
The hostile reception for Carney one day came after Trump has minimized expectations for the meeting.
“He comes to see me. I don’t know what he wants to see me, but I guess he wants to conclude an agreement. Everyone does,” said Trump on Monday in response to a question on Carney’s visit.
The US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick painted Canada as a little more than an economic blood in the United States.
“They have nourished us essentially from us for decades and decades after decades,” said Libnick in a Fox commercial interview, the day before Carney’s visit. “They have their socialist regime and it feeds mainly on America.”
Last year, Canada negotiated With the United States more than any other country, except Mexico, the total trade in products totaling around $ 762 billion, according to the USTR.
But the commercial relationship failed because Trump imposed high prices on Canadian goods.
Canadian exports to the United States dropped 6.6% in March, while exports to other countries increased by almost 25%, Statistics Canada said on Tuesday.
Trump’s prices, associated with its expansionist calls for America to absorb Canada as a state and its regular accusations and accusations, upset Canadian policy.
The Liberal Party of Carney won enough seats last week in Parliament to form the next government, after months of train behind the conservatives of the ballot box. Three months after the term of Trump, the Canadian elections were considered a Trump rejection and mounted in Canadian pride.
Bruce Heyman, the former United States Ambassador to Canada, told CNBC “Squawk Box” on Tuesday that Reunion has high issues for Carney and Trump, who promised that he could negotiate advantageous trade agreements with individual countries.
This is the development of news. Please check the updates.
