John Paul Tasker, CBC »

While there were niceties, Prime Minister Carney was clear with Trump in private, as he was in his public statements before the press, that Canada and the US coming together as one country is a non-starter, according to the official, who spoke to CBC News and other reporters travelling with the prime minister on background and with the condition that they not be named.

The prime minister also relayed to the president over lunch that his tariffs on Canadian goods need to be dismantled if there’s going to be a new trading arrangement between the two countries, as both leaders discussed there should be, the official said. Any trade “deal” for Canada must include the US lifting its tariffs.

While Carney, his team and most Canadians at home were seized with the 51st state taunts and Trump’s punishing tariffs, the president himself was eager to break bread with Carney and discuss global issues that are unfolding on his watch, namely the Russia-Ukraine war, hostility with China and the situation in Iran, the official said.

The official said Trump wanted to get Carney’s perspective on issues that the president is preoccupied with as he tries to fulfil his campaign promise to swiftly bring the war on Ukraine to an end and tamp down Iran’s nuclear ambitions — two issues that are proving to be particularly challenging for the administration.

Trump also asked Carney to weigh in on Israel and Gaza — although there was relatively little talk about that issue, the official said — and the Houthis in Yemen, which the president spoke about at some length in front of the White House cameras in the public portion of their get-together.