Canadian PM and Liberal leader Mark Carney Monday said he is available for a call with US President Donald Trump but he thinks Trump is waiting for the election and its result to see who is becoming the PM. US and Canada are locked in bitter tariff battle which would come into effect on April 2 along with all the other tariffs Trump has announced so far. Canada is going to the elections on April 28. And Carney who was sworn in as the 24th prime minister March 14 has not yet spoken to Trump — in an unprecedented communication gap between the US and Canada after there is a change in leadership.
“With respect to the president (Trump), the president is waiting for the outcome of the election and to see who has a strong mandate from Canadians, or who has a mandate from Canadians,” Carney said. “Is it someone who is, to quote Danielle Smith, who’s in sync with him, or is it someone who’s going to stand up for Canadians?”
Carney clarified that it is what he interprets from the silence of the US side.
“That’s an interpretation, but I think it’s a reasonable interpretation,” he said. “I’m available for a call, but you know, we’re going to talk on our terms as a sovereign country – not as what he pretends we are,” he said.
Donald Trump has been demanding that Canada should become the 51st state of the US which started as a joke at a Mar-a-Lago dinner that former PM Justin Trudeau attended. Donald Trump did not call Carney to congratulate him after he replaced Justin Trudeau, he did not call him after he was sworn in either.
“I’m going to stand up for Canadians — I hope Canadians will back me — and then we’ll have a discussion on the basis of … first, respect for our country as a sovereign nation,” Carney said as he explained his terms to speak to Trump.
“We are going to get stronger. We are going to wait this out. They’re going to come to the table and we’re going to negotiate a good deal for the Canadians,” Carney said.
