Trump later praised Carney as a “world-class leader”, adding that the former central banker was a “nice man” who can also be “very nasty”.
Washington:
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has called Donald Trump a “transformative president” and credited him for bringing “peace” between India and Pakistan. Speaking during bilateral talks at the White House, the Canadian leader credited Trump for influencing global affairs and economic stability.
“You (Donald Trump) hosted me and some of my colleagues a few months ago, and I said at the time, ‘You are a transformative president,'” Carney said in the Oval Office, as Trump nodded.
“And since then, the transformation in the economy, unprecedented commitments of NATO partners to defend spending, peace from India-Pakistan, through to Azerbaijan-Armenia, disabling Iran as a force of terror, these were important.”
Trump’s Claim And India’s Response
Trump has repeatedly said he brokered a truce between New Delhi and Islamabad during military confrontation in May, a claim that India denies. New Delhi has maintained that a ceasefire was reached after the Pakistani Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called his Indian counterpart and requested an immediate truce, as Pakistan was desperate following India’s strikes.
Mark Carney’s US Visit
This was Carney’s second visit to the Oval Office since taking over the top office in Canada in March. The visit came ahead of next year’s review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, as one of the world’s most durable and amicable alliances has been fractured by Trump’s trade war and annexation threats.
Carney’s praise for Trump on Tuesday signalled a notable shift in Ottawa’s stance after months of diplomatic unease over Trump’s tariff threats and the controversial remarks he made earlier this year claiming that Canada should be “annexed” into the United States.
During the exchange, Trump jested with Carney, joking about a Canadian “merger” in a reference to his previous calls for Canada to become the 51st US state. Carney laughed along and said, “That wasn’t where I was going,” before continuing with his remarks.
Reaffirming his country’s stance on Middle East diplomacy, Carney expressed support for Trump’s efforts to bring peace to the region. “We’ll do whatever we can to support that,” he said.
Trump later praised Carney as a “world-class leader”, adding that the former central banker was a “nice man” who can also be “very nasty”.
Despite the jovial tone, Trump and Carney studiously avoided giving any precise details on how they might ease US tariffs on lumber, aluminium, steel and automobiles.
Carney, who faced pressure at home to get a deal during his second White House visit since taking power in April, left without any firm promises that tariffs would be lifted. He said he was confident that Canada would “get the right deal” from the United States, his country’s main economic partner.
Trump also told reporters, “I think they’re going to walk away very happy.” The American leader said there was “natural conflict” between the two economies but that they had “come a long way over the last few months.”
Later, a statement from Carney indicated there had been little firm agreement, saying only that both leaders recognised there were areas for competition and others where they could work together.
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