Top Takeaways from Trump’s Meeting with Canada’s Mark Carney

President Trump hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House on Tuesday for their first in-person meeting since Carney’s election victory.

The meeting was shadowed by Trump’s tariffs against Canada and his repeated musings about making the United States’s neighbor to the north the 51st state, something Carney and other Canadian officials have consistently rejected.

Here are the top takeaways from the meeting.

Carney says Canada ‘not for sale’

During an on-camera Oval Office meeting, Trump doubled down on his suggestion that Canada would benefit from becoming the 51st state even as Carney was adamant it would not happen.

“I still believe that. But it takes two to tango, right?” Trump said, suggesting Canada joining the U.S. would lead to major tax cuts and other benefits for Canadian citizens.

Trump indicated he and Carney would not be discussing the prospect of Canada becoming the 51st state as part of their private talks. But Carney made clear it wasn’t up for discussion anyway.

“It’s not for sale. It won’t be for sale ever, but the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together,” Carney said, later adding that the views of the people of Canada on the issue would not change.

But Trump signaled he would not give up on the idea so easily.

“I say ‘never say never.’ I’ve had many, many things that were not doable, and they ended up being doable,” Trump said. “Canada loves us, and we love Canada. That’s I think the number one thing that’s important. But we’ll see. Over time, we’ll see what happens.”

Trump says Houthis ‘don’t want to fight anymore’

Trump announced during his meeting with Carney that the Houthis have informed his administration they want to stop fighting and that strikes on the rebel group have been called off.

“We had some very good news last night. The Houthis have announced … or they announced to us at least that they don’t want to fight anymore. They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that. And will stop the bombings,” Trump said.

“They have capitulated, but more importantly we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore,” he added. “I will accept their word, and we are going to stop the bombing of the Houthis, effective immediately.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sitting to the side of the president, argued the campaign against the Houthis in Yemen was about the “freedom of navigation issue.”

“A band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping and the job was to get that to stop. If it’s going to stop then we can stop. So, I think it’s an important development,” Rubio added.

Houthi rebels had been targeting shipping in the Red Sea, and the U.S. has engaged in ongoing strikes against the group, which began in March.

USMCA may not be necessary, officials say

Trump suggested Tuesday that the trade agreement from his first term, U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), may not be necessary anymore.

“It’s still very effective, but people have to follow it,” Trump said of the agreement. “It was a transitional step, a little bit. As you know, it terminates fairly shortly. It gets renegotiated very shortly.”

“This was a transitional deal,” he added. “I don’t know that it’s necessary anymore.”

Trump signed the USMCA in 2020, replacing the North American Free Trade Agreement. He announced in March that the USMCA would be exempted from a 25 percent tariff he imposed on all goods from Mexico and Canada.

As part of the 2020 agreement, any of the countries involved can move to approve of the deal moving forward, or oppose and revisit aspects of the deal beginning in 2026. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who was also in the Oval Office, suggested there would be “a real revisiting of USMCA in a year.”

When asked what changes he would want to make to the USMCA, Trump said he wasn’t sure if his administration would be “dealing” with it at all but if they do, they could be making “subtle changes” to it.

Trump downplays trade deals

Trump offered insight into how he is viewing trade negotiations with Canada and other nations, indicating they would not be traditional trade deals and downplaying the idea that Canada could escape tariffs currently in place.

“No,” he said when asked if Carney can say anything to lift the tariffs on Canada. “That’s the way it is.”

The Trump administration has imposed 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, though certain imports covered under the USMCA signed in 2020 are exempt.

At the same time, the administration has said it is negotiating with other countries after the White House levied “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of other trading partners, including allies like India, South Korea, Japan and the European Union.

“We don’t have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now, if we wanted,” Trump said.

The president described his approach as “flexible” and not “chaotic,” adding that the administration will adjust tariffs on trading partners if they’re not agreed to.

“One day we’ll come, and we’ll give you a hundred deals, and they don’t have to sign,” Trump said. “We will sign some deals but much bigger than that is we’re going to put down the price that people will have to pay to shop in the United States. Think of us as a super luxury store, a store that has the goods.”

Trump’s remarks came shortly after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified that there are not ongoing talks with China about a trade deal after administration officials, including Trump in recent weeks, suggested there were some interactions with Beijing.

Trump less antagonistic toward Carney

Even as Trump refused to back off on tariffs and talk of Canada potentially becoming the 51st state, he was largely friendlier toward the new prime minister than he had been in recent months toward his predecessor.

Trump praised Carney as “a very talented person” and commended the prime minister on his victory in Canada’s elections.

“He won a very big election in Canada. And I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him, but I can’t take full credit,” Trump quipped. “His party was losing by a lot, and he ended up winning.”

Carney’s Liberal Party won Canada’s federal elections last week in a race that was influenced heavily by Trump’s constant talk of targeting the longtime ally and making it a state.

Trump had mocked former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in social media posts as “governor” in the weeks before Trudeau announced he would step down as prime minister. The two men often had a frosty relationship dating back to Trump’s first term.

“This is not going to be like — we had another a little blow up with somebody else,” Trump said at one point Tuesday, a reference to a contentious Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“That was much different. This is a very friendly conversation,” Trump added.