OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney may join U.S. President Donald Trump next week in Washington but not — at this point — to talk trade, rather to talk World Cup soccer.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Carney is considering travelling to D.C. for the final draw on Dec. 5 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 tournament, but says no decision or plan for any other events in D.C. has been finalized.
Canada, U.S. and Mexico are co-hosts of the international soccer tournament, and are among the 42 nations that will be represented in the final draw. Bloomberg first reported the tentative travel planning.
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The trip would be made as the Carney-Trump relationship has slid into decidedly awkward territory. Trump cut off trade talks last month, rankled by an anti-tariff ad that Ontario paid to run on American airwaves, and has ghosted Canadian efforts to re-engage on trade.
At a news conference Sunday, Carney said he expected to speak to Trump possibly “within two weeks.” He said Trump accepted his apology for the ad that triggered the president, when Carney offered his regrets as the two attended the APEC summit in Korea in October.
But the prime minister airily dismissed a reporter’s repeated question about when the two leaders last spoke, saying “who cares? I mean, it’s a detail. It’s a detail. I spoke to him. I’ll speak to him again when it matters” — prompting Conservatives to criticize Carney as irresponsible Monday.
Instead, Carney underscored that since then he’s been “very busy” trying to buffer the economic damage that tariffs are causing Canada.
“We passed a budget, a budget that’s going to catalyze a trillion dollars of investment. We have launched new trade agreements. We’ve secured new investment in the country of a size not seen arguably, before. So we’re busy. He’s got other things to do, and we’ll reengage when it’s appropriate.”
“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, when America wants to come back and have the discussions on the trade side, we will have those discussions,” Carney said in Johannesburg at the close of the G20 summit that the U.S. did not formally attend.
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre slammed the prime minister, who was not present in question period Monday. “He said that there are no issues of importance to discuss. In fact, he said, ‘Who cares?’ We care. We care about the workers who have lost their jobs and do not have paycheques to make their mortgage payments. Why does he not care?”
The Liberals deflected the questions onto other topics.
Carney’s trade diversification efforts, including with countries like China, India and the UAE, despite questions around their human rights records, have intensified since those trade talks broke down.
Goldy Hyder, head of the Business Council of Canada, said, “Face time with the president would be a good thing even if unstructured. If it happens it happens. If it doesn’t there will be another time soon enough.”
“What I keep hearing from Washington sources is the president is fine with where Canada is currently on tariffs.”
But Hyder added, “If we are not, then we need to have a co-ordinated strategy with provinces so the PM can lean in with one voice. Not having that is what got us into this situation that sees discussions stalled.”
Roland Paris, a professor of international affairs and the director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, said Carney is “laying crucial groundwork for expanding trade and investment with key partners around the world,” but he noted the relationship with America is still the most critical.
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“There will be challenges: the real payoffs will take a long time to materialize, Canadian businesses themselves need to embrace this new vision, and managing relations with the U.S. will remain the most important element of Canada’s international policy no matter how successful we are at diversifying.”
“That said, he (Carney) is taking important and necessary steps to adapt Canada to a much more competitive world,” Paris said, in a written reply to the Star. “Each of these relationships carries its own complications. Carney will have to walk a fine line — advancing trade while addressing human rights concerns — if he hopes to keep Canadian public opinion with him.”
He added that given the need to “navigate these and other highly complex relationships, this may not be the ideal moment to be reducing the foreign ministry’s budget.”
The Carney government has said it will reduce foreign aid spending with $2.7 billion in cuts over four years.
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