During the phone call last month between Donald Trump and Mark Carney, the U.S. president put the idea of making Canada the 51st U.S. state back on the table, contrary to what the prime minister himself publicly stated later, sources told Radio-Canada.
According to two Radio-Canada sources with knowledge of the discussion, the issue of Canadian sovereignty was raised in the first part of the conversation.
At the end of this moment, described as “not easy” by one source, Carney said: “We’ll agree to disagree on that one.”
According to Radio-Canada’s sources, Trump brought up the issue of the 51st state during the March 28 call, explaining the advantages of Canada joining the U.S. Carney let him speak before expressing his disagreement.
That contradicts what the prime minister told journalists in a news conference later that day, when he suggested that Trump had put his expansionist language aside during the conversation.
“The president respected Canada’s sovereignty today both in his private and public comments,” Carney said on March 28.
Carney says call with Trump was ‘constructive’ and ‘cordial’
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Prime Minister’s Office did not deny that Trump raised the issue of the 51st state, but denied that Carney responded with “we’ll agree to disagree.”
“No, the prime minister didn’t say this to President Trump, and he was always clear on the fact that the possibility that Canada could be part of the U.S. is not on the table and never will be.”
“As we face this crisis, Prime Minister Carney is communicating his plan with Canadians everywhere to fight the trade war launched by Trump,” the statement, which was in French, said further down.
These revelations come just days before the end of an election campaign in which the Canada-U.S. relationship has emerged as the dominant issue for many Canadians. For weeks, the Liberal leader has been asserting that he has the necessary experience and is best placed to stand up to Trump.
“I’ve managed crises before,” he has repeated on numerous occasions — again on Wednesday, when he was in Victoria.
Before his call with the American president, Carney stated that he would only speak with Trump if the latter showed respect for Canada.
“I’m available for a call, but you know, we’re going to talk on our terms as a sovereign country,” he said on March 24, the second day of the election campaign.
Trump’s remarks published on Truth Social on the day of the call certainly signalled a change in tone — in public, at least.
Immediately after the call, the U.S. president described his meeting with Carney as “extremely productive.” And he referred to Carney as the prime minister of Canada, rather than “governor” as he typically did with Justin Trudeau.
On Wednesday, Trump again complimented Carney, calling him “very nice.” But he also again brought up the concept of Canada as the 51st state.
Trump rips Canada, warns auto tariffs ‘could go up’
“I have to be honest, as a state it works great,” Trump said. “Ninety-five per cent of what they do is they buy from us and they sell to us,” he said.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said last week the president’s position had not changed, and Trump “believes that Canadians would benefit greatly from becoming the 51st state of the United States of America.”
In addition to the question of the 51st state, the two leaders discussed other matters during the call, including the trade relationship between Canada and the U.S.
According to Radio-Canada sources, Carney proposed a review of the economic and security agreement between the two countries — after the federal election — which Trump accepted.
“It’s important for Canada not to negotiate on a piecemeal basis, just in the auto sector for example,” a source familiar with the discussions said. “We think we can win more if we review everything at the same time. On the border, the Americans are talking about fentanyl, but we also have issues with weapons.
“The tone of the call was generally positive,” the source added.
In recent weeks, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has criticized Carney’s positioning, saying he has falsely claimed he could control Trump. On Thursday in Halifax, asked about this story, Poilievre said that Carney must explain what happened on the call.
“That’s a question for Mr. Carney to answer. I wasn’t there. But what is clear is we will stand up for our sovereignty. We will never be an American state.”
Poilievre asked about Rad-Can report saying Trump did mention 51st state in Carney call
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said on Wednesday that “we have no information to the effect that Mr. Carney is living up to his claims as a great crisis manager.”
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh questioned if Carney can be trusted to tell the truth about negotiations with Trump if he wins the election.
“With all this fear coming back up, people are worried about what this means for their jobs. People are worried about what this means for their families,” Singh said during a campaign stop in Winnipeg.
“We’re also worried about what the negotiations are going to look like and we recently learned that Mark Carney wasn’t being totally straight up with us.”
Carney has agreed to speak with Trump again after the federal election if his party wins.
