Carney says Trump wants to reach economic, security deal with Canada within 30 days

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to reach a deal on a new economic and security relationship with Canada by mid-July.

Canada’s formal summary of the meeting between the two leaders this morning says Trump and Carney “agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days.”

It says the leaders also discussed themes of the ongoing G7 summit that Carney is hosting in Alberta, including critical minerals and defence, border security and gun and drug smuggling.

Trump told reporters this morning that a trade deal with Canada would be achievable, even if he and Carney have “different concepts” of what such a deal might look like.

The president said he is a fan of tariffs but Carney has what he called “a more complex idea.”

“I’m a tariff person, I’ve always been a tariff (person). It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s precise and it just goes very quickly, and I think Mark has a more complex idea, but also very good,” Trump said.

Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., says talks with American counterparts have accelerated in recent weeks.

In brief remarks, Carney welcomed Trump to the G7 and wished him a happy birthday. The president turned 79 on Saturday.

“This marks the 50th birthday of the G7,” Carney said. “And the G7 is nothing without U.S. leadership.”

Following their one-on-one meeting, Trump and Carney sat down with a wider group that included Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Trump spent some of his time in front of reporters Monday railing against former prime minister Justin Trudeau and former president Barack Obama, blaming them both for the decision to eject Russia from what was then known as the G8 in 2014.

Trudeau was first elected prime minister in 2015. Stephen Harper was prime minister when Russia was ousted from the G8 after annexing Crimea.

“Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in, and I would say that that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in,” he said, referring to the ongoing Russian war on Ukraine.

Trump and Trudeau had a notably poor relationship.

Trump stormed out of the last G7 summit that Canada hosted in 2018, pulled out of a joint leaders’ statement and issued a statement calling Trudeau weak and dishonest.

On Monday, Trump said he and Carney have “a very good relationship.”

The war in Ukraine is one of Canada’s top priorities as host of this summit.

Carney has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend, along with a handful of other world leaders who are not part of the G7.

The summit officially kicked off Monday. A welcome ceremony was set for the morning, followed by an initial working session focused on the global economic outlook.

Carney was set to meet with the president of the European Council and the president of the European Commission on Monday, followed by meetings with his counterparts from Japan, France and Italy.