Trump live: Canadian PM Carney heads to White House for high-stakes tariff meeting – UK Times

Mark Carney said last week he is going to Washington to “get the best deal for Canada,” and attempt to alleviate the “immediate trade pressures” between the two nations.

Trump attempted to downplay the meeting on Monday. “I’m not sure what he wants to see me about,” he said, before conceding: “I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal Party last week won the country’s general election, a snap contest that followed the sudden departure of Justin Trudeau.

At the start of this year, the Liberals looked all but certain to drift to defeat when the country went to the polls amid growing frustration over their party’s failure to rein-in inflation under Trudeau, with Poilievre waiting in the wings ready to pounce.

But the inauguration of Donald Trump across the border saw Canadians – angered by the American’s “51st state” rhetoric and imposition of 25 percent tariffs – band together in a surge of patriotism.

After being elected on an anti-Trump platform, Carney readied for his first major test on Tuesday: a high-stakes, face-to-face meeting with the U.S. president in the Oval Office.

Ahead of the encounter, Joe Sommerlad and James Liddell have outlined what Carney has had to say about his American counterpart since succeeding Trudeau.

In a blistering three-page letter addressed to Alan Garber, the president of Harvard University, Education Secretary Linda McMahon accused the institution of “disastrous mismanagement” as she announced it would no longer be eligible for any new federal grants.

Read McMahon’s letter in full:

Vice President JD Vance’s younger half-brother is vying to become the mayor of Cincinnati.

Cory Bowman, 36, an evangelical pastor and coffee shop owner, has never held public office before.

But Bowman said that he didn’t want to see incumbent Mayor Aftab Pureval, a Democrat, make a re-election bid unchallenged at Tuesday’s primaries. Fellow Republican challenger Brian Frank has also entered the race.

The two with the highest share of votes in the contest to lead Ohio’s third-largest city will go on to compete in November’s general election.

Ahead of Mark Carney’s first face-to-face meeting as Canadian prime minister with Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, he played down the idea of any immediate breakthroughs.

The high-stakes head-to-head between the two leaders comes after Trump’s antagonistic posturing toward Canada – including repeated annexation threats and the imposition of sweeping 25 percent tariffs.

“Do not expect white smoke out of that meeting,” Carney said in French in his first press conference as prime minister Friday, referring to the signal the Vatican sends to indicate a new pope has been selected.

Carney is expected to make a bid for a comprehensive deal on trade and national security, while hoping to reset frayed U.S.-Canada relations.

“Our focus will be on both the immediate trade pressures, and the broader future economic and security relationship between our two sovereign nations,” he added.

“My government will fight to get the best deal for Canada. We will take all the time necessary-but not more-to do so.”

President Donald Trump has dismissed criticism surrounding AI-generated images of himself, including one depicting him as the pope, that were posted on social media.

Trump characterized the images as harmless jokes, but communications experts disagree.

The AI-generated images, which surfaced over the weekend, show Trump in papal vestments and wielding a red lightsaber reminiscent of Star Wars villains.

These posts appear consistent with Trump’s provocative style, often used to energize supporters and antagonize critics.

James Oliphant and Steve Holland have more:

Education Secretary Linda McMahon announced that Harvard University would no longer be eligible for any new federal grants in a blistering letter shared to social media on Monday evening.

In the letter addressed to Alan Garber, the president of Harvard, McMahon accused of “disastrous mismanagement.”

“This letter is to inform you that Harvard should no longer seek grants from the federal government, since none will be provided,” she wrote.

The White House has previously threatened to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status and its eligibility to host foreign students. The administration had announced last month a freeze of more than $2 billion in federal funds committed to the nation’s oldest university, which are likely to last well into the summer.

Further light has been shed on Donald Trump’s desire to impose tariffs on foreign-made films, with Jon Voight reportedly providing the president with a partial roadmap to aid the Hollywood film industry.

On Sunday, Trump took to social media to brand foreign film production a “National Security threat.”

Details about the controversial plan have been scarce following Trump’s rant, but Deadline has now reported that a team comprised of Voight, special adviser Steven Paul, and SP Media Group/Atlas Comics president Scott Karol has submitted a proposal to Trump at his Mar-A-Lago resort, detailing how film production in the US can be boosted.

On his first day back in office, Donald Trump issued full commutations and pardons for more than 1,500 supporters charged with crimes connected to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Mike Pence, who was evacuated from the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots, said that Trump’s act of clemency “sent the wrong message.”

“I was deeply disappointed to see President Trump pardon people that engaged in violence against law enforcement officers on that day,” Pence, who had received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for defying Trump’s calls to help overturn the result of the 2020 election.

“The President has every right under the Constitution to grant pardons, but in that moment, I thought it sent the wrong message.”

After Trump continued to claim that the results of the 2020 election were “rigged,” Pence repeatedly told Trump that there was no evidence of fraud to alter the election’s outcome, according to a filing by special counsel Jack Smith late last year.

But Trump ignored his vice president, and at a rally on January 6, 2021, urged his supporters to “fight like hell” in order to “stop the steal.” Later that day, his followers stormed the Capitol to try to overturn the election results.

Phone logs revealed in Smith’s filing show that once back at the Oval Office, Trump tweeted: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

While storming the Capitol, some rioters were heard chanting: “Hang Mike Pence.”