U.S. President Donald Trump says he plans to meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney “very shortly,” and remarked that the Liberal Party leader “hated Trump” less than Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
“He’s a very nice gentleman, and he’s going to come to the White House very shortly, within the next week or less,” Trump said of Carney while speaking to reporters during a cabinet meeting on April 30.
The U.S. president said he has a “great relationship” with Carney, and that the former central banker called him on April 29 and asked to “make a deal.” According to a readout from the Prime Minister’s Office, Trump congratulated Carney during the call, the two agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together as “independent, sovereign nations,” and had agreed to meet in person.
Trump also said that both Carney and Poilievre “hated Trump” but that “it was the one that hated Trump, I think the least, that won.”
“I actually think the Conservative hated me much more than the so-called Liberal. He’s a pretty liberal guy,” Trump added.
The Liberal Party won the April 28 election with a minority government of 169 seats, which was three short of the 172 needed for a majority government. The Conservatives won 144 seats while Poilievre lost his own seat in the Carleton riding, while the Bloc Québécois won 22 seats, the NDP won seven seats, and the Greens won a single seat.
The election revolved heavily around Trump’s tariffs on Canada and his repeated comments about making Canada into the 51st U.S. state. Carney, who became prime minister on March 14 after winning the Liberal leadership, called a snap election soon after. Carney had framed himself as the leader best suited to negotiate with Trump and end the tariffs.
Poilievre had said during the election that a Tory government would push for early renegotiations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), while recommending the two countries pause their tariffs during the negotiation process. He also said that Canada’s increase in military spending, long a U.S. priority, would be dependent on the removal of American tariffs on Canada.