Visit to the White House | Mark Carney is about to meet Donald Trump

(Washington) After two telephone calls, the taxation of customs duties, threats to make Canada on 51^e US state and an electoral campaign on which Donald Trump hired, Prime Minister Mark Carney will finally meet on Tuesday the American president.

Posted at 7:09 a.m.

Mr. Carney, who won the federal elections barely a week ago, is expected at 11:30 a.m. at the White House, according to information provided by his entourage. He must sit for a tête-à-tête with Mr. Trump in the legendary oval office and take part in a “work lunch”.

For the director of the Observatory on the United States at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair of UQAM, Frédérick Gagnon, Mr. Carney’s main challenge, at least in terms of form, will be to avoid “the slippages” of his particularly unpredictable host.

In an interview with the Canadian press, Mr. Gagnon recalled the visit of the Ukrainian president, two months ago, who had turned to disaster after an acrimonious exchange where the two men had raised the tone by arguing in front of the cameras around the world. Volodymyr Zelensky was then invited to take the door, and a joint press conference was canceled.

Thus, journalists will be able to observe the first minutes of the interview between the two North American neighbors. However, Mr. Trump does not care to respect codes, protocols, and could go further than agreed words.

“Will he mention that he would like Canada to become 51^e State ? If he does it, how would Mr. Carney react, knowing very well that he already said that he did not like this kind of remarks, “said Professor Gagnon, noting that it would be outright perceived as” a personal insult “.

Mark Carney had warned that “respect” is a condition that he sits with President Trump, referring to that he would not tolerate being described as “governor”, a term that the American billionaire served in turn to Justin Trudeau.

Carney, who has been in Washington since Monday with the Minister of Commerce, Dominic Leblanc, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mélanie Joly, and the Minister of Public Security, David McGuinty, said he was expecting “difficult, but constructive” discussions.

A press briefing at the Canada Embassy – and therefore probably in the absence of the president – is scheduled after the meeting. “What is common, usually, in Washington, (these are) joint press conferences between the President of the United States and his guests,” said Mr. Gagnon.

Donald Trump imposed customs duties at the Canadian economy scale in March, before partially reducing them a few days later on imports in accordance with the rules of the Canada-States-Mexico Agreement (ACEUM). Canada has also been affected by customs duties on steel, aluminum and automobile.

On Friday, during his first press conference since the elections, Prime Minister Carney did everything to lower expectations against the game. He warned that “white smoke” will not emerge from the 1600 Pennsylvania avenue, a reference to the method used by the Vatican to announce that a new Pope has been chosen.

Trump revealed on Monday that he ignores why the Canadian Prime Minister is in the city. “I do not know exactly what he wants to approach with me, but I suppose he wishes to conclude an agreement,” he said when asked about his expectations.

On March 28, after the first Carney-Trump phone call, the president said the two men agreed to meet immediately after the next Canadian elections to discuss political, commercial and other, who will be beneficial for the United States and Canada.

Carney, a former governor of central banks in Canada and England, had spent most of his campaign to plead that he was the best person to manage this negotiation. He tirelessly swore that “never,” never “would be an American state, and said that” respect “for Canadian sovereignty is a” condition “to meet President Trump.

Besides Tuesday maintenance, MM. Carney and Trump are expected to meet in just a few weeks on the other side of the border, while Canada will be the host of the G7 summit, an event that must be held in Kananaskis, Alberta.

And, a week later, the Prime Minister should go to the Netherlands to participate in the NATO annual summit, an organization to which Mr. Trump criticizes many countries, including Canada, not to make their fair share, to reach the target of military expenditure established at 2 % of GDP.