Trump greets Carney with friendly handshake as leaders meet at White House

Trump praises Carney successful Oval Office

It was a antithetic Donald Trump successful person. The U.S. president was filled with praise for Canada's premier curate arsenic they sat down successful the Oval Office.

He credited Carney with 1 of the top comebacks successful governmental history.

“Canada chose a precise talented idiosyncratic — a bully person,” Trump said. “You ran a truly large contention … I watched the debate.”

Trump conceded that determination volition beryllium hard conversations but downplayed that. He started by bragging astir each the caller golden trim successful the Oval Office.

Carney, for his part, called Trump a "transformational" president, and said helium wants to find ways to enactment together.

Headed into the Oval Office

Both Trump and Carney gestured with their fists successful the aerial earlier heading inside.

They volition soon beryllium seated side-by-side successful the Oval Office wherever reporters with the Canadian and U.S. property volition effort to bombard them with questions.

A affable archetypal handshake

Carney and Trump were each smiles and exchanged a affable handshake astatine the White House entrance. Trump met Carney astatine the beforehand doorway of the West Wing.

There appeared to beryllium nary powerfulness moves done assemblage language.

Fun humanities fact: Trudeau practised his palm-up handshake connected Trump's enarthrosis connected the level down to Washington earlier their meeting. There was nary motion of that today.

Carney heads into the White House

Carney is connected his mode into the White House to conscionable with Trump, down schedule.

Before helium arrived, a Canadian emblem was brought retired and posted extracurricular the door.

Carney was scheduled to get astatine 11:30 a.m. ET astatine the White House, but we’re intelligibly down schedule.

A root tells our colleagues connected the crushed that the hold is connected the American side.

Carney is acceptable successful the car but needs the greenish airy from the White House.

FACT CHECK: Trump’s assertion that the U.S. ‘subsidizes’ Canada by $200B

The fig Trump uses has fluctuated.

He pegged the “subsidy” to Canada astatine $100 cardinal successful December. The pursuing month, helium upped it to $200 billion, past $250 billion.

In a Truth Social station this morning, helium repeated the $200-billion figure. But nary of those numbers are factual.

Trump seems to beryllium lumping successful the commercialized deficit, on with what helium calls “free” subject extortion and different unspecified things.

A commercialized shortage is not a subsidy. It conscionable means the U.S. buys much goods from america than we bash from them.

The U.S. commercialized shortage with Canada successful 2024 was $63 billion. If you instrumentality lipid retired of that, it’s really Canada that has the commercialized shortage (in different words, the U.S. has a commercialized surplus with america for astir goods).

Placing a dollar fig connected subject extortion and co-operation would beryllium overmuch much difficult. Canada has failed to unrecorded up to a NATO committedness to walk 2 per cent of GDP connected the military. Carney is promising to conscionable that by 2030.

Trump welcomes Carney with, ahem, elbows up

Carney called the U.S. president a bully negotiator. Well, 1 of the keys to negotiating is mounting the terms.

Trump appears to beryllium doing that by fundamentally asking: what tin Canada bash for me?

The president issued a broadside connected his Truth Social relationship minutes earlier Carney’s scheduled arrival, denigrating the value of Canada to the U.S. economy.

He said helium wants a bully narration with Carney, and wants Canada's friendship, but again questioned the basal presumption of the Canada-U.S. partnership.

Trump again wondered wherefore the U.S. needs Canada's lumber and cars, and again questioned wherefore the U.S. protects Canada militarily.

"That volition be, astir likely, my lone question of effect [at this meeting]," helium wrote connected Truth Social.

Who volition beryllium astatine the meetings?

Both the Canada and U.S. broadside person announced who volition beryllium successful the gathering today.

Outside of Carney, of course, the Canadian delegation includes:

• International Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
• Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly.
• Public Safety Minister David McGuinty.
• Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman.
• Clerk of the Privy Council John Hannaford.
• Carney’s interim main of unit Marco Mendicino.
• Senior advisor Lisa Jorgensen.

The U.S. broadside is besides stacked:

• Vice-President JD Vance.
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
• Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick.
• U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
• Trump’s main of unit Susie Wiles.
• Deputy main of unit Stephen Miller.
• U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.

What does a triumph look similar today?

Here's what a triumph volition look like, for Carney and for Canada: advancement connected 1 of 3 P's.

There are 3 large steps that request to beryllium sorted retired earlier immoderate speech of a Canada-U.S. commercialized truce: personnel, argumentation and process.

Which radical volition pb these talks? What policies are connected the negotiating table, speech from the obvious, tariffs? And what process volition they usage to negotiate?

The process question is key. Trump wants to update CUSMA arsenic rapidly arsenic possible, but that reappraisal isn't scheduled until adjacent year, and volition instrumentality astir a twelvemonth conscionable to get started nether the procedures successful U.S. law. They could determine contiguous to purpose for a separate, faster process.

Related to that: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is testifying connected Capitol Hill close present and said helium expects caller commercialized deals with up to 90 per cent of large U.S. trading partners this year.

Repeat aft us: it's conscionable 1 meeting

Despite the wall-to-wall media scrutiny of Carney's travel to Washington, it's worthy remembering what this is: 1 meeting.

His interlocutor, Trump, is simply a famously transactional fig whose interactions volition crook connected a dime.

Case successful point? Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The Ukrainian person was the unfortunate of possibly the astir catastrophic photograph op successful the past of the Oval Office. Every satellite person visiting Washington present fears getting “Zelenskyed.”

But conjecture what? Zelenskyy and Trump are present connected amended terms. They conscionable had an brushwood astatine the Vatican that Zelenskyy called their champion enactment yet.

They've got a caller minerals woody that analysts are calling a win-win. The New York Times conscionable ran a portion headlined, "How Zelensky Maneuvered Himself Out of the Doghouse With Trump."

You cognize who had a bully archetypal gathering with Trump aft the Nov. 5 U.S. election? Justin Trudeau. By archetypal accounts, his travel to Mar-a-Lago was friendly.

Then a fewer days later, Trump started belittling Canada's sovereignty, successful a run of cross-border denigration without parallel successful modern history.

So bottommost line: it's a luncheon meeting. Chill.