'Never say never': Trump contradicts Carney on Canada as 51st state

President Donald Trump on Tuesday hosted Canada's newest prime minister, Mark Carney, at the White House in what many feared could be a tense and heated trade negotiation. 

What transpired was a cordial conversation between the two nations' leaders on a variety of topics, including the ever-looming trade deal with Canada to resolve a trade war over Trump's hard-line stance on reciprocity.

Since the end of 2024, Trump has seemingly joked about the Great White North joining the United States as its 51st state, but has continued to make it part of any conversation surrounding Canada. Tuesday's discussion was no exception. Trump told the room full of U.S. and Canadian officials along with the press, "I think that there are tremendous benefits to the Canadian citizens, tremendously lower taxes, free military, which honestly, we give you essentially anyway, because we're protecting Canada, if you ever had a problem. But I think, you know, it's, it would really be a wonderful marriage, because it's, it's two places, they get along very well."

Carney, subtly opposing Trump's sentiment, responded, "as you know, from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. We're sitting in one right now (the White House), Buckingham Palace, and having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign [the] last several months, it's not for sale."

Trump told the prime minister and the room, "but never say never."

Predictions swirled leading up to the meeting with both leaders commenting on how they expected the talks to go. Moments before Carney arrived under the portico at the White House, Trump posted to Truth Social: "I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH — Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?"

Emphasizing U.S. independence in an economy which Trump is trying to bring back to American soil, he continue, "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, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us! The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence."