Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has issued an ultimatum to President Donald Trump over hi plans to implement tariffs on its northern neighbor – negotiations will begin when “respect” is shown to Canada.
According to Newsweek, Carney held a meeting with the Council on Canada-U.S. relations Thursday, with Carney’s office saying that the discussion included Trump’s plans to implement tariffs which are expected to hit Canada on April 2.
Trump’s recent comments about making Canada the 51st state of the U.S. has strained the relationship with Canada, which had a change of leadership last week when long-time PM Justin Trudeau stepped down after almost 10 years at the helm.
In a post on X, Carney made the comments regarding the U.S. showing respect to Canada and called the tariffs “unjust.”
“My meeting with the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations was focused on keeping Canada’s economy strong in the face of unjust tariffs,” Carney said. “We’re ready to engage with the U.S. on a comprehensive negotiation — when Canada is shown respect as a sovereign nation.”
During an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, Ingraham asked why Trump has been tougher on Canada than some of the U.S.’ biggest adversaries.
In response, Trump said Canada was a “nasty” country to deal with.
“Only because it’s meant to be our 51st state. But listen to this for a second, I deal with every country indirectly or directly. One of the nastiest countries there is to deal with, is Canada,” Trump said. “Now, this was Trudeau … I call him Governor Trudeau, his people were nasty, and they weren’t telling the truth, they never told the truth.”
Watch the video below:
Adam Chapnick, a professor of defense studies at the Royal Military College of Canada, previously told Newsweek that some of Trump’s comments are only made because it “gets such a rise out of Canadians.”
“Canada and its allies must take the president’s threats seriously so as not to allow them to become normalized among his extraordinarily loyal base, but the likelihood of Washington putting serious resources into taking Canada over remains slim to none,” Chapnick said. “I suspect that the president will continue to speak longingly of taking over Canada because it gets such a rise out of Canadians, and he enjoys the attention and the ability to exert power, even if only through unrealistic threats.”
