Canada stands firm: Carney rejects Trump's "for sale" proposal
"[Canada] is not for sale. It won't be for sale," stated Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada, during a meeting with Donald Trump at the White House. The President of the USA wants Canada to voluntarily join the United States. Before the meeting, he stated that he doesn't understand why his country subsidises Canada with an amount of $200 (£150) billion annually.
- As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. We're sitting in one now...it's not for sale. It won't be for sale. Thank you for your hospitality and above all for your leadership - said Carney.
In a post on his social media platform Truth.social, published less than half an hour before the expected meeting, Trump wrote that he very much wants to cooperate with Carney but cannot understand "one simple TRUTH."
"Why is America subsidising Canada by $200 Billion Dollars (£150 billion) a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?" asked the President on Truth Social. "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," added Trump.
The President has long claimed that America "subsidises" Canada but has never explained what this subsidy entails. Neither the American trade deficit with Canada nor the amounts spent on defence cooperation, nor the Canadian deficit in defence spending compared to the required NATO 2% threshold of expenditures add up to the amount mentioned by Trump.
The meeting at the White House is Carney's first visit to Washington since he took office as Prime Minister. The main expected topic of the discussions is the tariffs imposed by America on Canadian goods.
