After months of taunting and trolling the US's northern neighbours, Donald Trump has hosted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House.
Their first face-to-face meeting took place eight days after Carney's national election win, which followed a campaign dominated by Trump's treatment of Canada and his threats to its sovereignty.
But their televised pre-meeting chat in the Oval Office was warm and civil.
"This is not going to be like — we had a little blow-up with somebody else," Trump said, an apparent reference to his clash with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the same spot in February. "It was much different — this is a very friendly conversation."
A warm welcome despite damaged relations
Carney was elected with what was widely seen as a mandate to take the fight to Trump amid the two nations' trade war.
And Trump welcomed him to Washington with a social media post that, once again, complained about Canadian dependence on America.
But in the Oval Office, before closing the meeting to media, the men exchanged warm words and talked up a desire to cooperate.
"Regardless of anything, we're going to be friends with Canada," Trump said, describing Carney as "a very talented person, a very good person".
"I think we have a lot of things in common. We have some tough, tough points to go over, and that'll be fine."
Carney described Trump as a "transformational president" with a "relentless focus on the American worker" and on "securing the world".
He said he'd been elected to transform Canada with a similar focus. "And, you know, the history of Canada and the US is we're stronger when we work together," Carney said.
Trump acknowledges his election influence
Trump described Carney's April 28 election win as "one of the greatest comebacks in the history of politics".
The come-from-behind victory for his centre-left party was viewed by many as powered by anti-Trump public sentiment.
Like in Australia, poor polls for the Canadian incumbents turned around after Trump's inauguration.
Opponents of the conservative opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, branded him "Trump-lite" — like Peter Dutton's opponents branded him "Temu Trump".
And, like Dutton, Poilievre's general election defeat also saw him lose a seat he'd held for more than two decades.
Trump acknowledged his likely role in Carney's win.
"He won a very big election in Canada, and I think I was probably the greatest thing that happened to him," Trump said. "But I can't take full credit."
Justin Trudeau announced his resignation from the Canadian prime ministership and Liberal Party leadership amid dire polls last year. "I used to call him Governor Trudeau," Trump said. "I think that probably didn't help his election."
Trump's proposal for a 'wonderful marriage'
Asked about his recurring threat to turn Canada into a state of the US, Trump framed it in less combative terms than the takeover talk he's used before.
"It would be a really wonderful marriage," Trump said. "Because it's two places, they like each other a lot, they get along very well."
But he also said: "It takes to two tango."
As Carney sat beside him, Trump pitched the ways he saw Canada benefiting from removing the "artificially drawn line" that is the national border: "massive" tax cuts, a "free military" and "tremendous" health care.
"When you look at that beautiful formation, when [the countries are] together — I'm a very artistic person, but when I looked at that, I said, 'That's the way it was meant to be.'
"I do feel it's much better for Canada," Trump said. "But we're not going to be discussing that unless somebody wants to discuss it."
But Carney told Trump: "As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale.
"We're sitting in one right now," he said. "You know, Buckingham Palace, that you've visited as well.
"And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign last several months, it's not for sale. Won't be for sale ever."
Asked again about the subject later, Trump said: "Never say never."
But Carney did. Smiling and looking around the room, he said: "Never, never, never."
After the closed-door meeting, Carney was asked if he'd requested Trump stop calling Canada the 51st state. "Yes," he said.
How did Trump respond? "I don't know," Carney said. "He's the president. He's his own person."
Trump says meeting won't mean backdown on tariffs
The cordial tone of the leaders' meeting mostly belied the bitter trade war being fought by their countries.
Trump's placed tariffs of 25 per cent on most Canadian imports, with smaller tariffs on energy and fertiliser, and some outright exemptions. Canada's put retaliatory tariffs on a long list of US imports.
Trump was asked if there was anything Carney could say during their meeting to get him to lift the tariffs on Canada. "No," he replied.
Asked why not, he said: "Just the way it is."
Carney said the three-way trade agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico (USMCA) now needed changing.
"It is a basis for broader negotiation," he told Trump. "Part of the way you've conducted these tariffs has taken advantage of existing aspects of USMCA, so it's going to have to change."
Carney gave a thumbs-up as he left the Oval Office.
He later said he and Trump had a constructive discussion and agreed to ongoing conversations, including at next month's G7 summit in Canada, which Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also set to attend.
"Today marked the end of the beginning of a process of the United States and Canada redefining that relationship," Carney told a post-meeting press conference.
Negotiating with the rest of the world
Trump was also questioned about the White House's efforts to negotiate new trade agreements with other countries.
His "reciprocal" tariffs program is still on pause to allow for discussions with trade partners, but no new deals have been announced.
Most trade partners, including Australia, are still being hit with a 10 per cent tariff on almost all exports to the US.
Trump suggested the pressure was on those countries to put forward offers because the US was the more valuable trading partner.
"We don't have to sign deals. We could sign 25 deals right now," Trump said.
"They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don't want a piece of their market."
Away from the White House, Trump's Treasury Secretary said the US was negotiating with 17 countries and a deal could be announced "as early as this week".
Scott Bessent told a committee of Congress that 80 or 90 per cent of deals with the US's largest trading partners would be wrapped up by the end of the year.
Trump likened the US to a "super luxury store". "You're going to come and you're going to pay a price," Trump said.
