Trump might not restart trade talks but calls Canada 'tough traders' and 'good at ice hockey'

U.S. President Donald Trump offered mixed messages when asked pointedly on Sunday whether he would revive stalled trade talks with Canada.

“We’ll see,” he said toward the end of a scrum with reporters ahead of the 2025 Kennedy Centre Gala in Washington, D.C. “The problem is Canada makes a lot of things that we don’t need because we make them also, but we’ll work it out,” he said, as seen in a .

He called Canada “tough traders,” but insisted he has “a very good relationship” with Prime Minister Mark Carney and Canada at large. “Canada is a special place, and they really are good at ice hockey, aren’t they?” the U.S. president quipped.

Trump said he met with Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum for 30 minutes after Friday’s World Cup draw at the Washington, D.C. venue, with their “very productive” conversation centred mostly on trade.

Carney’s office had previously said the conversation, which it clocked at 45 minutes, was “constructive” and the leaders agreed to keep working together on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), according to CTV News.

Trump abruptly halted the negotiations in October upon learning of Ontario’s anti-tariff advertisement featuring a radio address by former president Ronald Reagan in which the Republican is critical of tariffs.

On Truth Social, Trump called it “fake” and reinforced the importance of tariffs.

“Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED,” he wrote.

After consulting with Carney, Ontario Premier Doug Ford agreed to pause the ad campaign, but not before it aired during Major League Baseball World Series broadcasts.

Trump then announced an additional retaliatory 10 per cent tariff on Canadian imports over and above the existing flat rate of 35 per cent.

At the time, he and Carney were both scheduled to be in South Korea the following week for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Asked ahead of the trip if he planned to meet with Carney, Trump said, “I don’t have any intention of it, no,” as reported by Bloomberg.

“For those that are asking, we didn’t come to South Korea to see Canada,” he posted to Truth Social as Air Force One touched down in Busan a few days later.

Nevertheless, the world leaders found themselves facing one another at a table during a state dinner hosted by South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.

Carney later told Global News he and Trump enjoyed “a very good conversation” while they dined.

A few days later, Trump revealed that Carney personally apologized for the ad but that it wouldn’t spur trade talks. Carney later confirmed he made the apology.

“It’s not something I would have done,” he said, explaining that he’d seen it before it was aired and asked Ford to pull it.

While conducting a press conference at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in South Africa in late November, Carney was asked about the last time he spoke with Trump.

“Who cares? I mean, it’s a detail. I spoke to him. I’ll speak to him again when it matters.”

In the House of Commons two days later, Carney admitted he’d used “a poor choice of words about a serious issue.”

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