Trump Shuts Down Canadian PM Carney in Oval Office Showdown: 'No Reason to Subsidize Canada'

Tensions flared during Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first official visit to Washington, as President Donald Trump confronted him directly about trade and U.S. support for America’s northern neighbor.

Even before Carney stepped foot in the White House on Tuesday, President Trump made it clear on Truth Social that the conversation wouldn’t be all smiles.

“I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH — Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?” Trump posted.

He continued, criticizing the need for Canadian imports:

“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!”

Once Carney arrived for their Oval Office meeting, the two leaders opened with polite exchanges, but it didn’t take long before the tone shifted. Trump noted early on, “I think we have a lot of things in common. We have some tough points to go over, and that’ll be fine.”

Carney, a former central banker and Goldman Sachs executive, touted Canada’s economic ties with the U.S., saying, “We are the largest client of the United States in the totality of all the goods [imported],” and emphasized that cars built in Canada are composed of “50 percent U.S. parts.”

But Trump wasn’t buying it.

“This is a very friendly conversation, but we want to make our own cars,” he said bluntly. “We don’t really want cars from Canada, and we put tariffs on cars from Canada, and at a certain point, it won’t make economic sense for Canada to build those cars.”

That comment clearly put Carney on the defensive, but Trump wasn’t finished.

“And we don’t want steel from Canada, because we’re making our own steel,” the president continued. “We’re having massive steel plants being built right now as we speak.”

Trump then made a broader economic case to justify his approach:

“Because of past thinking of people, we have a tremendous deficit with Canada, and they have a surplus with us, and there’s no reason for us to be subsidizing Canada,” he said, adding that “Canada’s a place that will have to be able to take care of itself, economically.”

He closed the public portion of their meeting by reinforcing that point:

“It’s hard for the American taxpayer to say ‘gee whiz, we love doing that.’”

At that point, Carney appeared ready to respond, but President Trump promptly ended the media portion of their discussion.

Still, Trump did acknowledge progress made during his first term, praising the USMCA trade agreement as a “good start,” while signaling that a renegotiation is likely next year.

The clear message from President Trump’s remarks: he’s determined to level the playing field with Canada and eliminate what he sees as one-sided trade deals, even if it means economic pain for America’s longtime ally. His priority, as always, is protecting American jobs and industries first.