PM Mark Carney tells Donald Trump that Canada will never be for sale

US has had solid relations with Canada but President's foreign and economic policies put neighbours at odds

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House. AFP

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday pushed back against US President Donald Trump's ambitions to make Canada the 51st American state, as the two met in the White House.

Mr Carney's Liberal Party won a snap election on April 28 in a ballot that came to be seen as a referendum on which candidate would best stand up to Mr Trump.

Tuesday's meeting was mainly cordial, despite the US President's repeated mentioning of Canada on his Truth Social account, including one shortly before the meeting began.

The subject of Canada becoming a US state came up at the start of their meeting.

"Well, I still believe that," Mr Trump said, "but it takes two to tango, right?"

But Mr Carney dismissed the idea.

"Respectfully, Canadians' view on this is not going to change on the 51st state," he said. “It's not for sale, it won't be for sale – ever.”

A poll in March conducted by Leger showed that 85 per cent of Canadians opposed the idea of becoming part of the US.

The US has long had solid relations with its northern neighbour. But tensions soared after Mr Trump took office in January, launched a trade war and imposed tariffs on Canada.

“Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada,” Mr Trump said.

The comments came after Mr Trump said on Truth Social that the US is providing Canada with “free” military protection. Canada has its own military, buys much of its equipment from the US and has long supported the US in some of its wars, including in Afghanistan.

“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,” Mr Trump said on Truth Social.

The US President also reiterated a frequent claim he makes about the US giving Canada a $200 billion subsidy. It was not immediately clear what he was referring to.

He said the two leaders would also discuss the war in Ukraine. Mr Carney “wants it ended as quickly as I do”, he added.

Mr Trump has upended US foreign policy and at times picked fights with the nation's closest allies.

Under his America First agenda, Mr Trump has imposed a 25 per cent levy on steel and aluminium imports as well as 25 per cent duties on cars – all of them exported by Canada.

So far, Canada has responded with a 25 per cent tariff rate of its own on $30 billion worth of US goods and a 25 per cent on US aluminium and steel, as well as on American vehicles.