Donald Trump attacks Canada minutes before clash with Mark Carney - ''We don't need you!'

Canada minutes before meeting with the country's Prime Minister, Mark Carney.

In a post on Truth Social, he said: "I look forward to meeting the new Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney. I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH - Why is America subsidising Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them FREE Military Protection, and many other things?

need their Cars, we don't need their Energy, we don't need their Lumber, we don't need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us! The Prime Minister will be arriving shortly and that will be, most likely, my only question of consequence."

Before President Trump's social media salvo Mr Carney had posted a relatively positive message on X yesterday (Monday), alongside a video of himself arriving in the US, saying the "work starts now" for Canada and America working "together".

He wrote: "I've arrived in Washington, DC ahead of meetings with President Trump tomorrow. Canada and the United States are strongest when we work together - and that work starts now."

Photos of the two leaders meeting at the White House showed Mr Trump looking somewhat nonplussed with his guest, despite his Canadian counterpart beaming for the cameras.

It is the first time the two men have met in person since Mr Carney won Canada's General Election last month. During his victory speech he told supporters "President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us, that will never ever happen".

After Mr Trump's social media post, Mr Carney may be wondering if he will face a grilling in the Oval Office similar to that dished out by the Trump administration to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. On February 28 Mr Zelensky ended up leaving Washington early and not signing a US deal after he was blasted for not showing "respect" or saying "thank you" enough, during a tense meeting in the White House.

Canadian-US relations have soured since President Trump took office with the American leader saying he wants to make Canada the 51st US state and he has slapped his northern neighbour with steep tariffs on the manufacturing of cars, the supply of oil, electricity and other goods.

The public outrage provoked in Canada by Mr Trump, dubbed the "Trump effect" by some political analysts, is thought to have enabled Mr Carney's Liberal Party to score a stunning comeback victory last month despite previous poor poll ratings.

The Republican president has repeatedly threatened that he intends to make Canada the "51st state" and he said in an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" that aired on Sunday that the border is an "artificial line" that prevents the two territories from forming a "beautiful country."

Trump's openly adversarial approach has raised questions for Mr Carney and other world leaders on how to manage relations with the US