When is the last time Carney spoke to Trump? 'Who cares?' PM says
Mark Carney had a two-word response to a question about when he last spoke to Donald Trump: “Who cares?”
The prime minister was in Johannesburg, South Africa, taking part in the G20 Leaders’ Summit over the weekend. On Sunday, he discussed a wide range of topics with reporters, including Canada-U.S. relations. He was asked when was the last time he spoke to Trump.
“Who cares? I mean, it’s a detail,” he said, about 28 minutes and 57 seconds into the press conference. “I spoke to him. I’ll speak to him again when it matters.”
Speaking in French, Carney said he was focused on the future and that he would likely have conversations with Trump in the next two weeks.
“I look forward to speaking to the president soon, but I don’t have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now,” he said, switching back to English. “When America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side, we will have those discussions.”
Carney was also asked about Trump’s decision to boycott the summit and if it was damaging to the multilateralism achieved by the leaders of the countries that were present.
“I look at it more from who shows up, who engages, who does the work, and who builds. And Canada shows up and Canada engages,” said Carney.
The American president said earlier in November that U.S. officials would not attend. The boycott was due to what Trump referred to as South Africa’s “human rights abuses” against the descendants of Dutch settlers. (Trump has claimed that there is a genocide against white people in South Africa. It has been refuted by the country’s leaders.)
Carney and Trump’s relationship has remained rocky since the Ontario government aired an anti-tariff advertisement featuring a voiceover by the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan. Trump slammed the ad and halted trade talks with Canada at the end of October.
On Sunday, Carney told reporters that Trump had accepted his apology about the ad when they spoke.
“We’ve had discussions. I’ve been busy,” said Carney, noting that the Liberal budget recently passed and new trade agreements were in the works.
Carney and Trump met at the White House in October . Prior to that, Trump had referred to Canada as the 51st state and had imposed tariffs on Canadian imports. Yet, in the Oval Office, the pair appeared to be cordial. Few details emerged from the meeting about how the trade war would come to an end.
After the anti-tariff ad aired, Trump told reporters that he wouldn’t speak to Carney “for awhile” ; however, they were forced to face each other at a state dinner in South Korea on Oct. 29, when they were seated at the same table. They were there for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Speaking in South Africa, Carney said they would meet again.
“He’s got other things to do,” he said about Trump, “and we’ll re-engage when it’s appropriate.”
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