In an astonishing and unusually blunt Oval Office exchange on Tuesday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a clear and uncompromising message to Donald Trump: Canada will not become America’s fifty-first state — not now, not ever.
The tension between the two leaders was unmistakable as Trump attempted to revive his bizarre and long-teased idea of Canadian statehood. Sitting just inches from Carney, the former president floated the notion again in front of reporters, despite Carney having been elected on a platform explicitly rejecting Trump’s threats of annexation.
“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” Carney told Trump in the Oval Office, turning toward reporters. “Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign, it’s not for sale. It won’t be for sale ever.”
Unfazed, Trump leaned in with his signature bravado. “Never say never,” he said. “I had many things that people said were not doable but ended up being doable.”
The exchange wasn’t just awkward — it marked a new low in the already fraught relationship between Trump and America’s closest neighbor. The idea of annexing Canada, once dismissed as fringe internet chatter, has become a recurring theme in Trump’s recent rhetoric, fueling nationalist fervor among his base and backlash abroad.
Carney, who took office in April after a surge in support from voters alarmed by Trump’s escalating anti-Canadian rhetoric, made it clear that the idea was not up for discussion.
“Respectfully, Canadians’ view on this is not going to change on the fifty-first state,” Carney said, speaking directly to both Trump and the American press. “We are the largest client of the United States. In totality of all goods, we are the largest state. We have a tremendous auto sector between the two of us.”
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Trump, however, seemed determined to double down on trade grievances, falsely characterizing the U.S.-Canada trade relationship. He claimed the U.S. was losing out due to what he called “subsidies”—a” mischaracterization of trade deficits, which simply reflect that the U.S. exports more to Canada than it imports.
“We really don’t want Canadian steel, and we don’t want Canadian aluminum and various other things because we want to be able to do it ourselves,” Trump said. “At some point, it won’t make economic sense for Canada to make those cars.”
In fact, U.S. Census Bureau data shows that Canada purchased nearly $41 billion more in U.S. goods than it exported to the U.S. in 2023 — a clear trade surplus from the American perspective, not a deficit. Still, Trump’s statements have proven resistant to fact-checking.
Tuesday’s meeting had been billed as a diplomatic effort to ease tensions over tariffs and economic cooperation. But with Trump’s repeated references to annexation and his refusal to lift tariffs, the event quickly devolved into a symbolic clash over sovereignty.
At one point, Carney attempted to pivot back to practical matters, pointing out the mutual economic benefit of the U.S.-Canada auto industry. “Fifty percent of the cars that come from Canada are American,” he said. “That’s unlike anywhere else in the world.”
But Trump cut the meeting short, leaving Carney without a final opportunity to address the U.S. press. The former president dismissed the exchange as “friendly,” but his facial expressions and abrupt exit suggested otherwise.
For Canadians — and many Americans — the incident underscored just how surreal Trump’s second-term agenda has become. What was once political theater is now national policy discussion. And at least for now, the leader of America’s northern neighbor is having none of it.
