Canadian Prime Minister Mark Kearney said Friday that he will travel to meet President Trump next week to meet for a high-stakes encounter between two leaders of the country where a once-closed friendship has collapsed amid the trade war and Trump's threat to Canadian sovereignty.
Mr. Carney also announced that King Charles III will be visiting Canada later this month. The travel news, also announced by Buckingham Palace, is seen as a clear responsibilities for Trump's call to make Canada the 51st state, as analysts are also the official head of state for Canada.
Carney, a former leader of the central banks of England and Canada, led the Liberals to victory in Monday's national elections. There, he reiterated that Trump, his tariffs on Canadian exports, and his repeated stories of making Canada a different province are high in voters' minds.
The Trump administration's belligerent campaign against Canada said it made it clear that Canada needs to negotiate new deals with the US on a variety of issues, including economic and security alliances.
“Our old relationships have ended based on a steadily increasing number of integration,” Carney told reporters in Ottawa at his first press conference after the election. “The current issue is how our country will cooperate in the future and where we in Canada move on.”
Carney said he asked Charles to give a speech on May 27th to hold a new session for the Canadian Parliament. Once a new parliament is convened, the opening speeches bringing the ruling party's legislative agenda are usually read by the Governor General, who is the representative of the king of Canada.
“This is a historic honor that fits the weight of our time,” Carney said. Queen Elizabeth, who gave a speech in 1977, was the last British monarch to do so.
As he did throughout the campaign, Carney said when he met Tuesday that the idea of joining the US was not subject to negotiations with Trump.
“This is something that Canadians clearly stated virtually without exception,” Carney added that Trump did not nurture the nation during this week's call between leaders.
He said he intends to discuss various US tariffs on Canadian exports, including vehicles, auto parts, steel and aluminum, which put tens of thousands of jobs at risk. Military spending will also be on the agenda, he said.
“That's going to be a complicated negotiation,” Carney said.
“I'm not pretending that these arguments are easy,” he added. “They don't go straight. They have jigs and zags, ups and downs.”
Carney highlighted what Trump's tariffs are already causing by noting a General Motors announcement Friday, saying it was cutting production at its pickup truck assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
Unifor, a union representing factory workers, estimates that around 2,200 workers will lose employment by eliminating one of their shifts in the factory.
Stellantis, which closed its plant in Windsor, Ontario, said last month that Trump's car rates were in effect, idling about 3,500 workers and closing the plant on Friday for another week.
Kearney responded to Trump's taxation by applying retaliatory tariffs on US vehicles.
