Carney: Trump Is 'Willing to Negotiate'

President Trump complained once again about the US "subsidizing" Canada in a Truth Social post before his meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday—but both men sounded upbeat about US-Canada relations after the meeting. At a press conference at the Canadian embassy, Carney said that after "wide-ranging" discussions, he felt Trump was "willing to negotiate" and forge a new trade deal with Canada, the BBC reports. He said the White House meeting marked the "end of the beginning of a process" of redefining Canada's relationship with the US. "I feel better about the relations in many respects," he said. There will be "zigs and zags—difficult aspects to it", he said of trade talks. "But the prospect is there."

• 51st state. Carney said that during their private meeting, he asked Trump to stop making remarks about Canada becoming the 51st state, though he didn't share the president's response. Asked what he was thinking when Trump referred to the border as artificial, Carney said, "I'm glad that you couldn't tell what was going through my mind," the CBC reports.

• Trump said meeting was "great." At a White House event later in the day, Trump said the meeting with Carney was "great" and predicted the relationship with Canada would be "strong" in future, the AP reports. He said he probably wouldn't give Carney the same "governor" nickname he used with his predecessor. "I did have a lot of fun with Trudeau," Trump said. "But I think this is, this is a big step. It's a good step up for Canada."
• No give on tariffs. The Guardian describes the meeting as "remarkably cordial"—but as Carney had predicted, there was no big announcement on tariffs. When reporters asked Trump if there was anything Carney could to do to have US tariffs dropped, Trump said "No," adding, "Just the way it is." Trump also repeated what the CBC calls the "oft-repeated falsehood" that the US "subsidizes" Canada by $200 billion a year.
• "Never, never, never." Carney didn't push back against many of Trump's remarks during the public part of the meeting, but he told Trump: "As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale," including Canada. Trump replied: "I say 'never say never.' I've had many, many things that were not doable, and they ended up being doable," per the Hill. The CBC reports that the prime minister's response wasn't picked up on the live TV feed, but "from another camera angle, you can see Carney emphatically, and with a smile on his face, say 'never, never, never, never, never.'"

(More Mark Carney stories.)