Prime Minister Mark Carney became the most recent world leader to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office, an event that has taken on an unusual significance and become something of a spectator sport for political observers.
As reported by The Associated Press, the interaction offered “a glimpse into how Trump has transformed Oval Office meetings from brief and bland encounters into precarious affairs that often force foreign leaders to choose between placating or confronting the American president.”
With Trump setting the terms, the meetings have become something of a “no-win situation” for foreign leaders seeking an audience with Trump, New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman told CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
Carney, she said, clearly came in with a prepared line that Canada is not for sale, but then had to navigate to ensure the meeting would not devolve into anything reminiscent of the debacle when Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited in February.
CBC News Erin Collins and Power & Politics host David Cochrane unpack the big headlines of Mark Carney’s meeting with Donald Trump in Washington. Additionally, former Liberal deputy prime minister Sheila Copps says Carney was ‘artful’ in his delivery.
Haberman and Cooper suggested there was a kind of spectrum for how world leaders have approached Trump in the Oval Office, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s positive visit on one end and the disastrous meeting with the Ukranian president on the other. She suggested Carney hewed more toward the Starmer end of the spectrum.
It may be too early to discern whether the Canadian prime minister’s approach to Trump will net any benefits. But what about French President Emmanuel Macron, Starmer and Zelenskyy, who met with Trump just days apart in late February? Here’s a look at their varying approaches to dealing with the U.S. president and what kind of results they achieved.
French President Emmanuel Macron
The approach:
Macron’s meeting with Trump was marked by hugs and extended handshakes, references to “Dear Donald” and repeated proclamations of their friendship and “very special relationship.”
Helen Cook, director of the Institute for Diplomacy and International Affairs at Loughborough University London, wrote in an essay for the academic website The Conversation that Macron delivered a “master class in the diplomatic arts.”
“Unthreatening body language and public displays of affection? Check. Meeting your interlocutor on any and every inch of common ground? Check,” she wrote, referring to Macron’s fluent English and the way he recalled Trump’s visit to Paris for the reopening of Notre Dame cathedral.
She also praised Macron for “gently correcting” Trump when the president asserted that Europe would get back 60 per cent of the aid it gave to Ukraine. Touching Trump’s arm, Macron said: “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday met with U.S. President Donald Trump, with a heavy focus on Ukraine. At one point, Macron interjected to dispute Trump’s framing on how European funding flows to Ukraine, saying, ‘we provided real money, to be clear.’
Cook said that on this occasion, Macron “outperformed even himself, and outclassed his host by some degree.”
Macron, who has established a friendly relationship with Trump over the years, was the first European leader to visit since the president began his second term. The meeting marked three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Macron used the opportunity to try to persuade Trump about Ukraine’s need for security guarantees as part of any peace deal.
Trump expressed a desire for a ceasefire as soon as possible and said he was trying to arrange one between Ukraine and Russia. But Macron urged a more deliberate approach, starting with a truce and then a peace deal that includes security guarantees.
“This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine. It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty and allow Ukraine to negotiate with other stakeholders regarding the issues that affect it,” Macron said.
The results:
Macron referred to the discussions with Trump as a “turning point.” But as New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote: “For all the clubby hugs and handshakes they could not disguise the growing rift between the United States and Europe over the Ukraine war.”
As Baker noted, Trump made no mention of guarantees or Ukrainian sovereignty.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer
The approach:
Starmer certainly used the charm offensive on his first visit to the White House. He, like Macron, was hoping to secure some security guarantees for Ukraine in any peace deal with Russia. But Starmer was also looking for an exemption from Trump’s punishing tariffs on U.K. steel and aluminum imports.
In a meeting at the White House, U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer discussed ending the war in Ukraine, but while Trump suggested a ceasefire could be imminent and that Russia could be trusted to honour a deal, Starmer was more cautious.
Part of Starmer’s approach was to appeal to Trump’s great affinity for the monarchy. He handed Trump a personalized letter from King Charles inviting Trump for a second state visit.
“It was a precision-guided move designed specifically to target the former TV game show host,” Tristen Naylor, director of the Oxbridge Diplomatic Academy, wrote on the website Medium.
“Moreover, Sir Keir delivered his performance with language borrowed directly from Trump’s characteristic patter, offering superlatives and compliments at every opportunity,” Naylor wrote.
Starmer also praised Trump for his efforts in trying to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying he had “created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic peace deal.”
But he wasn’t in complete lockstep with Trump, using language, in reference to Ukraine, that Trump has avoided. For example, Starmer referred to Russia as the invader, and cautioned that there cannot be peace “that rewards the aggressor.”
Trump, for his part, was also full of praise for Starmer, saying the prime minister was a “very tough negotiator” who was “working hard” to convince him not to impose tariffs and had “earned whatever the hell they pay him over there.”
“I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary, we’ll see,” Trump said.
The results:
On Thursday, the United States and Great Britain announced plans for a trade deal with the U.K. that still has to be finalized and would keep in place the baseline 10 per cent tariffs Trump unveiled in April
It would lead to more beef and ethanol exports to Britain. In return, however, U.K. officials said that according to this deal, Trump’s auto tariffs would go from 27.5 per cent to 10 per cent on a quota of 100,000 vehicles and import taxes on steel and aluminum would go from 25 per cent to zero.
Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
The approach:
Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy turned into a public lashing of the Ukranian president, who was berated by both the U.S. president and Vice-President JD Vance, who reprimanded him for not showing enough gratitude for America’s aid to his country.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s key message to the U.S. was all but drowned out when an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump devolved into a public shouting match. CBC’s Ellen Mauro cuts through the chaos of that day to reveal what Ukraine was really after and how a history of diplomatic disappointment has left the country desperate for U.S. security guarantees.
The shouting match erupted after Vance stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve the conflict. Zelenskyy, with his arms folded, countered that Putin could not be trusted in any talks and noted that Vance had never visited Ukraine.
Trump and Vance called Zelenskyy, “disrespectful,” with Trump saying that Zelenskyy was “not in a good position.”
“You don’t have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards,” Trump said.
The blowup led to the rest of Zelenskyy’s White House visit being cancelled and he left without signing a deal that would allow the two countries to jointly develop Ukraine’s natural resources.
The results:
That confrontation led the White House to briefly pause U.S. military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. But Trump and Zelenskyy would have another face-to-face meeting, this time for about 15 minutes while attending the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican last month.
Trump said it was “a beautiful meeting,” while Zelenskyy said it was their best conversation to date.
“Maybe it was the shortest, but it was the most substantive,” he told reporters in his office. “With all respect to our teams, this tête-à-tête format, in my opinion, worked.”
Days later, and after months of tense negotiations, the U.S. and Ukraine signed a deal that is expected to give Washington access to the country’s critical minerals and other natural resources, and that Kyiv hopes will secure long-term support for its defence against Russia.
According to Ukrainian officials, this new version of the deal is far more beneficial to Ukraine than previous versions, which they said reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources, The Associated Press reported.
