Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney holds highly anticipated talks with Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday after the US president's tariffs and threats of annexation frayed ties between the North American neighbors.
Carney, 60, won reelection on a pledge to stand up to Trump and his "America First" agenda, warning that the relationship between the two countries can never be the same again.
Trump, 78, has sparked a major trade war with Canada, which counts the United States as its main ally and trading partner, while repeatedly making extraordinary calls for Canada to become the 51st US state.
But after his tough talk on the campaign trail, Liberal Party leader Carney will also be seeking to cool the temperature and move towards a trade deal as he meets Republican Trump in the Oval Office.
"Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together -- and that work starts now," Carney said on X as he arrived in Washington on Monday night.
Trump is set to welcome Carney at 11:30 am (1530 GMT), followed by the Oval Office meeting and then lunch. Carney is due to hold a press conference at 3:00 pm.
Trump has called the urbane Carney a "very nice gentleman" but made it clear he believed the Canadian was coming begging for a trade deal.
"He's coming to see me. I'm not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does," Trump told reporters on Monday.
Trump slapped general tariffs of 25 percent on Canada and Mexico and sector-specific levies on autos, some of which have been suspended pending negotiations. He has also imposed similar duties on steel and aluminum.
Carney has vowed to remake NATO member Canada's ties with the United States in perhaps its biggest political and economic shift since World War II.
'Old Relationship'
"Our old relationship based on steadily increasing integration is over. The questions now are how our nations will cooperate in the future," Carney said in his first post-election press conference on Friday.
The Canadian leader said he would also "fight to get the best deal" on the tariffs.
But Trump's ultra-loyal Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it would be "really complex" to reach a deal.
"They have their socialist regime and it's basically feeding off of America," he told Fox Business on Monday. "I just don't see how it works out perfectly."
The US president inserted himself into Canada's election early on with a social media post saying Canada would face "ZERO TARIFFS" if it "becomes the cherished 51st state."
Pierre Poilievre's Conservative Party had been on track to win the vote but Trump's attacks, combined with the departure of unpopular former premier Justin Trudeau, transformed the race.
Carney, who replaced Trudeau as prime minister in March, convinced voters that his experience managing economic crises made him the ideal candidate to defy Trump.
The political newcomer previously served as governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, and in the latter post he played a key role reassuring markets after the 2016 Brexit vote.
Carney is known for weighing his words carefully but he will face a challenge dealing with the confrontational Trump on the US president's home turf.
"This is a very important moment for him, since he insisted during the campaign that he could take on Mr Trump," Genevieve Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa, told AFP.
The Canadian premier would also have to avoid the fate of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who walked into a brutal tongue-lashing from Trump and Vice President JD Vance in February, said Tellier.
But one point in Carney's favor is that he is not Trudeau, the slick former prime minister whom Trump famously loathed and belittled as "governor" of Canada, she added.
By Danny Kemp and Marion Thibaut / AFP
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