Sorry, America. Canada's just not that into you.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who rode to power on a wave of anti-Trump nationalism, was having none of it last week, letting Trump down easy in a sometimes tense Oval Office meeting. The whole display was embarrassing for Trump, who has set his sights on Canada, and it was a disservice to Americans who have benefited from a respectful relationship with their Northern neighbors.
"When you get rid of that artificially drawn line ... somebody drew that line many years ago with like a ruler, just a straight line right across the top of the country,' Trump said, speaking of the 5,525-mile U.S.-Canada border, the world's longest land border. "When you look at that beautiful formation, when it's together... I'm a very artistic person. But when I looked at that beauty, I said, that's the way it was meant to be.'
Trump has repeatedly talked about acquiring Canada (and Greenland and the Panama Canal and Gaza) with little to show for his musings. Those comments took on new meaning when Trump sat side by side with Carney, who has met Trump's bullying with a succinct defense of Canada's sovereignty.
"As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale. We're sitting in one right now. Buckingham Palace, that you visited as well,' he said, as Trump agreed. "And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign, last several months, it's not for sale. It won't be for sale ever. But the opportunity is in the partnership and what we have done together.'
Canada is among the U.S. biggest trading partners, with $762.1 billion in bilateral trade in 2024. But partnership requires mutual respect and cooperation; Trump sees zero-sum competition and rivalry everywhere he looks. His blundering trade war has upended the Canada-U.S. alliance. At several sporting events, Canadians have shown their distaste by booing during the U.S. national anthem. According to a POLITICO/Focaldata poll of Canadians in the run-up to last month's elections, nearly half (49%) view the U.S. as either generally unfriendly, hostile or an enemy. China has a better standing, with only 42% seeing the communist country that negatively.
The deteriorating relationship has encouraged Canada to shift exports to other countries and trading with the U.S. has fallen over the last few months, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Tuesday.
Trump insists that Americans don't need goods from Canada, though he also argues that the U.S. should acquire all of Canada as the 51st state — even though its landmass is larger than that of the U.S.. The idea is deeply unpopular on both sides of the "artificial line,' with 85% of Canadians and 86% of Americans against annexation. More broadly, Americans hold a dim view of Trump's engagement with the world. According to a Pew poll, 55% are not confident in his ability to negotiate favorable trade policies with other countries and 56% lack confidence in his ability to make good decisions about foreign policy. And at 100 days, only 38% of Americans thought his handling of foreign affairs is making the country "stronger.'
Trump has used the Oval Office as a showcase for his power, inviting foreign leaders to sit before the cameras in his gold-inflected domain. It was notably a disaster for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a love-fest for El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, the self-styled "cool dictator.' Carney, a charismatic former central banker, showed Trump to be unfocused and preoccupied with an unserious effort at expanding U.S. territory, which shrinks and damages its reputation around the globe.
"I say 'never say never.' I've had many, many things that were not doable and they ended up being doable,' Trump said in reaction to Carney's insistence that his country is not for sale. "Canada loves us and we love Canada. That's I think the number one thing that's important. But we'll see. Over time, we'll see what happens.'
What has happened so far is that Trump's disrespect of Canadian sovereignty and identity has stoked a backlash, tanking what had been a strong and mutually respectful relationship.
Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Mark Carney was also the chair of Bloomberg until January, when he resigned that post to enter politics.
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