Dealing directly with the unhinged neighbour

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This article was published 08/05/2025 (323 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the end, the encounter was described as cordial. Tense, yes, but respectful. Some even went so far as to call it productive.

For Canadians, the most meaningful outcome of the first face-to-face meeting between Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump might be that it was largely uneventful — noteworthy for its general absence of blowups, tirades, insults or outright lies from a serially erratic leader who is known for producing all of those things in abundance.

Tuesday’s get-together at the White House was described by Trump himself as “friendly,” and while it did not produce anything in the way of definitive declarations regarding Canada-U.S. relations and the ongoing Trump-initiated tariff dispute that continues to impact both nations’ economies, it can fairly be argued it did accomplish a positive reset of the intentions and emotions informing the cross-border alliance.

If it’s true — and it most certainly is — the Liberals won the federal election on the strength of their pitch that Carney is the leader best suited to deal with the challenges posed by Trump’s scattershot antics, then Tuesday’s event would have to be considered a triumph of managed expectations and mostly muted diplomatic restraint.

One can’t help wondering what the prime minister was anticipating as he arrived at the White House, and whether his hopes were achieved by the time he exited.

In just a weekend’s worth of news cycles leading up to their meeting, Carney would necessarily have watched and taken note as Trump: a) posted on social media (and then denied responsibility for) an AI-generated picture of himself as the next pope, b) mused about reopening the long-shuttered Alcatraz prison to “house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” c) pledged to impose a 100 per cent tariff on movies produced outside the U.S. (a nonsensical notion, given the ethereal logistics and economics of film production) and d) continued his out-loud ruminations about annexing Canada as the 51st U.S. state.

Even with Carney actually en route to their crucial first meeting, the president could not restrain himself from further trolling Canada on his Truth Social platform, posting (inaccurately) that the U.S. “subsidizes” Canada by US$200 billion annually and that “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 … (and) They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us!”

Armed, as he must have been, with a clear understanding of who and what awaited him in the Oval Office, Carney delivered a virtuoso performance, opening with a deftly measured statement that sounded very much like a compliment — “Thank you for your hospitality and, above all, your leadership; you’re a transformational president…” — but was really nothing more than a recitation of fact that left open to the listener just exactly what Trump is transforming, and (for better or worse) how.

For most of the on-camera portion of their session, Carney remained silent as the president expounded at length on a variety of unrelated topics; when it came time to the PM to address the issue of annexation, however, Carney spoke matter-of-factly in terms Trump could understand:

“As you know, from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. … Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it‘s not for sale, won’t be for sale, ever.”

“Never say never,” Trump responded, to which Carney mouthed silently to numerous people in the room, “Never.”

Message delivered.

And, as far as this first meeting is concerned, mission accomplished.