U.S. President Donald Trump privately congratulated Prime Minister Mark Carney on his victory in Canada’s federal election in a phone call Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Office said, and agreed to meet with Carney in person “in the near future.”
Trump has yet to publicly acknowledge the results of Monday’s election, which Global News is projecting will see the Liberals form a minority government in its fourth straight mandate after an election that was dominated by Trump’s attacks on Canada’s economy and sovereignty.
“President Trump congratulated Prime Minister Carney on his recent election,” the PMO’s readout of the call said.
“The leaders agreed on the importance of Canada and the United States working together, as independent, sovereign nations – for their mutual betterment. To that end, the leaders agreed to meet in person in the near future.”
Neither Trump himself or the White House have yet provided their own readout of the call.
Earlier Tuesday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce offered the Trump administration’s first public congratulations to Carney in a statement read out loud to reporters who asked for a reaction to the results.
“The U.S.-Canada relationship remains one of the most extensive in the world,” Bruce said. “We look forward to working with Prime Minister Carney’s government, particularly on key issues such as trade fairness, combating illegal immigration, halting the flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, and countering the Chinese Communist Party’s influence in our hemisphere.”
The Trump administration was focused Tuesday on marking Trump’s first 100 days of his second presidential term.
Trump ignored a question about the election after briefly scrumming with reporters outside the White House on his way to a rally in Michigan to mark his milestone.
During a briefing with “new media” on Tuesday that was held after her regular media briefing, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked if Trump’s repeated call to make Canada the 51st U.S. state was “Trump trolling or Trump truthing.”
“Trump truthing, all the way, and the Canadians would benefit greatly,” Leavitt responded. The people in the room, all online influencers sympathetic to Trump, laughed in response.
In a statement issued Tuesday to the Associated Press, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the Canadian election “does not affect President Trump’s plan to make Canada America’s cherished 51st state.”
Global News