Trump insults Canada ahead of PM Carney’s arrival at the White House

President Donald Trump gave Canada’s new prime minister, Mark Carney, a frosty welcome to the White House on Tuesday, saying on social media just before his arrival that the United States doesn’t need “ANYTHING” from its northern neighbour.

The new Canadian prime minister hopes to ease tensions in the trade war, which has created economic uncertainty on both sides of the border.

Carney’s Liberal Party scored a stunning comeback victory last month in a vote widely seen as a rebuke of Trump.

The Republican president has shattered a decades-old alliance by saying he wants to make Canada the 51st U.S. state and levying steep tariffs. Carney has stressed Canada is “in a once-in-a-lifetime crisis.”

Meanwhile, Trump told reporters he wasn’t quite sure why Carney was visiting.

“I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH — Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?” Trump wrote on social media.

“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. They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us! The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly, and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence.”

The meeting got underway at noon ET on Tuesday.