Prime Minister Mark Carney is dismissing a claim that he walked back the remarks he made in Davos last week during a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday.
“To be absolutely clear, and I said this to the president, I meant what I said in Davos,” Carney said Tuesday on his way into a meeting with his cabinet.
Asked directly if he walked his comments back, Carney said “no.”
The prime minister said Trump called Carney on Monday and the pair had “a very good conversation” discussing everything from Arctic security to the situation in Ukraine and Venezuela.
Carney said he told the U.S. president that Canada was the first country to recognize the new direction Trump was taking with American trade policy and that Canada was “responding positively” to Trump’s moves.
“I explained to him our arrangement with China, I explained to him what we’re doing: 12 new deals on four continents in six months — he was impressed — and what we intend to do going forward.”
The prime minister said part of that conversation focused on the upcoming review of CUSMA and how Canada was prepared to use that review to build new relationships in the U.S.
Carney says he told Trump ‘I meant what I said in Davos,’ contradicting U.S. account | CBC News