Carney says Trump raised '51st state' during their call but 'the president says a lot of things'
PM reiterated that U.S. president respected Canadian sovereignty in call
Liberal Leader Mark Carney confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump did bring up the prospect of Canada becoming the 51st state during their March 28 call, while insisting Trump did show respect for the country as a sovereign nation.
"The president says lots of things, but the essence of the discussion and where we moved the conversation to, was exactly what I said," Carney said during a campaign stop in Port Moody, B.C., Thursday.
Carney said that while Trump did bring up the 51st state, he chose, at the time, to describe where the two leaders ended their conversation, rather than giving a detailed blow-by-blow of the call.
The Liberal leader said Trump's agreement to sit down and hammer out a new security and economic agreement with whoever wins Canada's April 28 election shows that the president is now prepared to deal with Canada on a nation-to-nation basis, despite his public bluster.
"The president has certain things in his mind, that he reverts back to all the time," Carney said. "We had discussions as sovereign nations. We agreed as sovereign nations that these negotiations will begin after the election on Monday."
In March, when Carney was first asked to describe the tone of the conversation with Trump, he said it was "cordial" and "positive" and that "the president respected Canada's sovereignty today both in his private and public comments."
At the time Carney did not mention that Trump brought up the 51st state again, but according to two sources with knowledge of the discussion who spoke with Radio-Canada this week, the issue of Canadian sovereignty was, in fact, raised in the first part that March 28 conversation.
Radio-Canada's sources said Trump used the call to explain the advantages of Canada joining the U.S.
The sources said Carney let Trump speak before expressing his disagreement. At the end of the moment, described as "not easy" by one source, Carney said: "We'll agree to disagree on that one."
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office denied that Carney responded with "we'll agree to disagree."
"No, the prime minister didn't say this to President Trump, and he was always clear on the fact that the possibility that Canada could be part of the U.S. is not on the table and never will be," the spokeswoman said in a French statement.
When asked Thursday if Trump respected Canada's sovereignty during the call, Carney said "he did, he absolutely did," noting that Trump referred to him as prime minister and not "governor," the term Trump used to describe former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
These developments come just days before the end of an election campaign in which the Canada-U.S. relationship has emerged as the dominant issue for many Canadians. For weeks, the Liberal leader has been asserting that he has the necessary experience and is best placed to stand up to Trump.
"I've managed crises before," he has repeated on numerous occasions — again on Wednesday, when he was in Victoria.
Before his call with the American president, Carney stated that he would only speak with Trump if the latter showed respect for Canada.
"I'm available for a call, but you know, we're going to talk on our terms as a sovereign country," he said on March 24, the second day of the election campaign.
A public change in tone
Trump's remarks published on Truth Social on the day of the call certainly signalled a change in tone — in public, at least.
Immediately after the call, the U.S. president described his meeting with Carney as "extremely productive." And he referred to Carney as the prime minister of Canada, rather than "governor" as he typically did with Justin Trudeau.
On Wednesday, Trump again complimented Carney, calling him "very nice." But he also again brought up the concept of Canada as the 51st state.
"I have to be honest, as a state it works great," Trump said. "Ninety-five per cent of what they do is they buy from us and they sell to us," he said.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said last week the president's position had not changed, and Trump "believes that Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state of the United States of America."
Other issues discussed
In addition to the question of the 51st state, the two leaders discussed other matters during the call, including the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S.
According to Radio-Canada sources, Carney proposed a review of the economic and security agreement between the two countries — after the federal election — which Trump accepted.
"It's important for Canada not to negotiate on a piecemeal basis, just in the auto sector for example," a source familiar with the discussions said. "We think we can win more if we review everything at the same time. On the border, the Americans are talking about fentanyl, but we also have issues with weapons.
"The tone of the call was generally positive," the source added.
In recent weeks, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has criticized Carney's positioning, saying he has falsely claimed he could control Trump. On Thursday in Halifax, asked about this story, Poilievre said that Carney must explain what happened on the call.
"That's a question for Mr. Carney to answer. I wasn't there. But what is clear is we will stand up for our sovereignty. We will never be an American state."
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said on Wednesday that "we have no information to the effect that Mr. Carney is living up to his claims as a great crisis manager."
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh questioned if Carney can be trusted to tell the truth about negotiations with Trump if he wins the election.
"With all this fear coming back up, people are worried about what this means for their jobs. People are worried about what this means for their families," Singh said during a campaign stop in Winnipeg.
"We're also worried about what the negotiations are going to look like and we recently learned that Mark Carney wasn't being totally straight up with us."
Carney has agreed to speak with Trump again after the federal election if his party wins.
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With files from Louis Blouin, Daniel Leblanc, Marie Chabot-Johnson, Andréanne Apablaza and CBC News