Carney Will Have First Meeting With Trump Next Week

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will head to Washington next week for his first meeting with President Trump. The meeting, set for Tuesday, comes just days after Carney's Liberal Party pulled off a comeback win in an election many saw as a response to Trump's ongoing trade battles and threats against Canadian sovereignty, the AP reports. On Friday, at his first news conference since the election, Carney said his government will "stand up to President Trump and build a strong economy." His government, he said, "will fight to get the best deal for Canada."

Asked whether he will insist on tariffs being lifted as a condition for trade negotiations, the prime minister said he's not going to negotiate in public, reports CP24. "Do not expect white smoke out of that meeting," he joked in a reference to the papal conclave. "Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us," Carney said at a victory event early Tuesday. "But "when I sit down with President Trump, it will be to discuss the future economy and security relationship between two sovereign nations." Carney said Friday that King Charles III had accepted his invitation to deliver the throne speech when Parliament returns on May 27, the CBC reports.

The king is Canada's head of state, but the speech is usually delivered by the governor-general, the monarch's representative. The king's visit "clearly underscores the sovereignty of our country," Carney said. "This is the ultimate head of state." The reigning monarch hasn't opened Canada's Parliament since 1977, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Ottawa, the Guardian reports. Carney also said that if the opposition Conservatives choose to keep Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat in Monday's election, as their leader, he would call a special election without delay if another Conservative resigned to make room for Poilievre. "No games," he said. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)