Donald Trump has fired back with a brutal three-word response after Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, shut down the idea of the country ever becoming the 51st state of the United States.
The two leaders met yesterday (May 6) at the White House for the first time since Carney, 60, succeeded Justin Trudeau in Canada’s general election on April 28.
Despite recent tensions, including the reimposition of Trump’s 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports, the meeting started with mutual praise.
The 78-year-old called Carney a “very talented person,” while the Canadian PM referred to Trump as a “transformational president.”
But when it came to the topic of merging nations, Carney stood his ground, firmly rejecting the idea. “As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” he told reporters, per The Guardian. “Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign in the last several months, it’s not for sale. Won’t be for sale, ever.”
The prime minister then doubled down: “We are masters in our own home. We can give ourselves far more than any foreign government can ever take away.”
Trump, seemingly unfazed, responded with a now-viral line: “I say, ‘Never say never’.” He added: “I’ve had many, many things that were not doable and ended up being doable.”
This fiery back-and-forth didn’t come out of nowhere. Just last week, Carney warned Canadians of Trump’s ambitions in his victory speech: “As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country – never.”
“These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us – that will never, that will never ever happen,” he said.
The 47th President’s desire to incorporate Canada into the U.S. isn’t new. On the day of Canada’s election, he took to social media, urging Canadians to ‘vote for him,’ despite not being on the ballot, and promised they’d get “taxes cut in half,” “military power increased for free,” and businesses that would “quadruple in size.”
“America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past,” Trump wrote. “It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”
The statement was quickly condemned across party lines. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre snapped back: “Canada will always be proud, sovereign, and independent, and we will NEVER be the 51st state.”
Carney echoed this message with a no-nonsense post on X: “This is Canada – and we decide what happens here.”
Carney, a former central banker, won the election on a platform of Canadian resilience and independence.
“When I sit down with President Trump it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations,” he said in his victory speech, “and it will be with our full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians.”
With Trump’s tariffs now back in place, Carney has called on Canadians to support homegrown industry.
“Now in the face of this crisis, united we are buying Canadian,” he declared. “We are exploring everything this country has to offer, we are supporting our friends and neighbors in the crosshairs of President Trump, through a crisis that we did not create.”
He concluded: “United, we will win this trade war and build the strongest economy in the G7. An economy that works for everyone.”
