Trump, Carney debate annexing Canada as 51st state in White House visit: live updates

  Fireworks lit up disputes about President Donald Trump’s priorities in a series of high-stakes meetings about foreign affairs and domestic spending.

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney told Trump in the Oval Office on May 6 that his country is “not for sale,” despite the president’s repeated proposals to annex the northern neighbor as a 51st state. The two met to discuss tariffs and border security, although Trump said he didn’t expect to change his import duties.

Sparks flew on Capitol Hill, too, as the House Appropriations Committee began reviewing Trump’s budget blueprint for the year starting Oct. 1.

Trump would like to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency and simply provide disaster grants to the states, according to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Her confirmation of Democratic suspicions came after Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut, said “disasters happen everywhere” and argued the federal government needs to respond.

DeLauro also criticized Noem for running a multi-million ad campaign promoting tougher border security that the lawmaker called GOP “propaganda.” But Noem said Trump proposed the ads himself and insisted she appear in them.

In another congressional hearing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent denied the country is in a recession despite the economy shrinking during the first three months of the year. He cited a surprising jobs report.

Bessent acknowledged the country’s $36 trillion in debt “scary.” But he said he would prevent it from becoming unsustainable, with “a sudden stop in the economy as the credit would disappear.”

Trump’s US steel goals won’t happen in ‘a snap,’ Canadian trade leader says

President Trump’s goal of not wanting to use Canadian steel won’t come so easily − or quickly, Catherine Cobden, president and CEO of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, told USA TODAY. 

The U.S. imports more steel from Canada than any other country, about six million tons annually, no small figure, Cobden contends, despite Trump’s pointed comments during his meeting on May 6 with Prime Minister Mark Carney. 

“We’re making our own steel and we’re having massive steel plants being built as we speak,” Trump told reporters. “We don’t want Canadian steel and aluminum and various other things because we want to be able to do it ourselves.”  

While “Trump’s vision is a laudable goal” in the long term, Cobden said it’s not achievable in the short term. “Replacing six million tons is a big gap and it won’t be filled at the snap of a finger,” Cobden said. “These large-scale matters take years, they don’t take days or months.”