Prime Minister Mark Carney went to the White House Tuesday and showcased publicly the friendly relationship he’s cultivated with U.S. President Donald Trump. For some, it was a cringeworthy performance, for others, a crucial reset of a key relationship. But it’s what Carney is telling Trump privately that deserves more attention.
Sitting next to Trump, Carney once again praised him as a “transformative” president. He said he’d transformed the U.S. economy, got unprecedented commitments from NATO partners on defence spending, praised him for getting “peace” between Pakistan and India, and between Azerbaijan and Armenia, for “disabling Iran as a force of terror,” and for making the prospect of peace possible in the Middle East.
Carney let Trump hold court, awkwardly staring at the ground when the Republican president went on about the Democratic Party in the U.S. destroying his country with “their open borders, and men playing in women’s sports, and transgender from everybody, and windmills all over the place.”
But if Carney was fawning over Trump, Trump was doing the same to Carney. At times, it wasn’t clear who was enjoying it more.
“Pretty fancy entrance, eh?” Trump told Carney, after the prime minister drove up to the White House, with the driveway flanked by flag-carrying guards.
“It’s amazing,” Carney replied, beaming. “I wore red for you,” the prime minister added, stroking his tie.
In the Oval Office, Trump effusively praised the new Liberal leader.
“I think he’s a great prime minister. I mean, he could represent me any time,” Trump said.
” … I can tell you this because they deal with lots of leaders all over the world, he is — he’s a world-class leader.
” … He’s a good man. He does a great job, but he’s a tough negotiator.”
For all the ink spilled over former U.S. president Barack Obama and former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s so-called “bromance,” those two had nothing on these two.
Who would have thought six months ago, Trump would appear to declare his love for Carney on TV? “We also have mutual love. You know, we have great love for each other. I love this —” Trump seemed to stop himself short of saying “man,” before pivoting to “I love Canada and the people of Canada.”
But beyond the show of affection between the leaders, no tangible progress was announced Tuesday, despite Trump predicting that the Canadian team would walk away “very happy.”
Tuesday evening, although Trump boasted that the border is “closed” and that Canada is “working hard” cracking down on fentanyl exports, his tariffs remain. There are crippling 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminum, and new and incoming tariffs on softwood lumber, upholstered furniture, kitchen cabinets, and now heavy-duty trucks, as well as, of course, non-CUSMA-compliant goods. The economic impacts are already being felt.
In the Commons, the opposition spent the day noting that the Liberals had campaigned on ‘elbows up’ but backed down on reciprocal tariffs, the digital services tax, and appeared to be willing to trade away dairy concessions, too. For all of Carney’s efforts to strike a deal, the Conservatives charged, all Canada has gotten in return are more tariffs.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford urged Carney to take a tougher stand. But the prime minister doesn’t have Ford’s luxury. He has repeatedly told Canadians he’d rather sign no deal than a bad deal.
Perhaps that’s what the Liberals walked away from Tuesday.
Canadians don’t know. And at this point, Canadians deserve to be brought into the discussion.
The Liberals won the last election on one premise — Canada strong, a country less dependent on the United States, in terms of its security and its economy.
Billions of dollars have been set aside to increase defence spending to support this goal. The Liberals have weakened parliamentary democracy to allow the government to carve out exemptions from environmental laws to allow for the rapid building of big energy projects to also support this goal.
But early signs from Tuesday’s White House visit suggest Carney may not be quite as committed to his original sales pitch.
Carney’s point man on the Canada-U.S. relationship, Minister Dominic LeBlanc, seemed to suggest Tuesday to reporters that Ottawa is prepared to trade away tariff relief for “a partnership in terms of energy” with the United States.
Trump said the countries would be “working together” on the Golden Dome, a $243-billion missile defence system that has escaped much public discussion in Canada. When asked about it, LeBlanc refused to give a clear answer.
Closer integration between Canada and the U.S. on defence and energy is quite a stretch from the “elbows up” approach. Is what’s being said behind closed doors different than what’s being said out in the open?
If the prime minister intends to get Canadians to buy in, perhaps he should start talking to them.
