Carney Says He’s in Regular Contact With Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during a summit in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 13, 2025. Amr Nabil/AP Photo

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he’s been in touch with U.S. President Donald Trump as the two countries unleashed further trade measures against each other this week, saying the two can “compartmentalize” to discuss different issues such as the Ukraine war.

Carney’s comment was made at a Sept. 10 joint press conference in Calgary with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is currently visiting Canada.

“I speak regularly to ... President Trump. I spoke in recent days,” Carney said. He went on to reference points made by Zelenskyy during the news conference about how the Ukraine war is impacting food security globally and affecting energy infrastructure, with Carney adding that a ceasefire could help with those issues.

“The United States can play a decisive role in in making that happen,” Carney said. “We continue to work with the United States. We can compartmentalize across this.”

Washington and Ottawa have been exchanging barbs in recent weeks after the collapse of trade talks, with Ottawa saying Washington wanted to infringe on Canada’s sovereignty with its proposed trade deal, while Washington has dismissed this, saying it’s Ottawa that walked away from the deal to gain domestic political advantage.

“Canada has been ripping us off for years,” Trump said early this week.

For his part, Carney said in recent weeks, “You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked.”

Canada has been subject to new 50 percent U.S. tariffs on about CA$28 billion of its U.S. exports beginning on Aug. 22, and has announced retaliatory tariffs on the same volume of American goods beginning this week.

Ottawa says the tariffs are justified as it wants to shield affected Canadian businesses from U.S. tariffs and also apply political pressure on the Trump administration to remove its tariffs.

Washington has since announced further measures against Canada, saying it needs to “level the playing field” when it comes to trade. These measures include new import bans against Canadian products such as most alcohol, banning Canadian companies from taking on certain U.S. government projects, and new 50 percent tariffs on Canadian vehicles and auto parts.

Earlier this week, Carney’s Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said he’s in touch with his American counterpart, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The two sides have said there’s currently no formal restart of trade negotiations underway.

“When the US is ready to engage, our government will work in good faith and constructively towards a more secure mutually beneficial trading relationship that fully respects Canadian sovereignty,” LeBlanc said in a social media statement on Sept. 8.

Greer said it’s Canada that’s responsible for the failure of the talks, and took issue with Ottawa using the term “trade war,” in comments he made to media on Sept. 9.

“To kind of have it whipped up into this giant thing, where we’re talking about war and economic attacks and all these things, it’s a little unhinged,” Greer said.