Carney says there’s only ‘one negotiator’ with the U.S. after Conservative MP’s latest trip to Washington

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Prime Minister Mark Carney dismissed Conservative MP Jamil Jivani’s recent trade trip to Washington D.C., saying on Thursday that Jivani can go where he wants, but he won’t learn anything Carney doesn’t know already. 

“It has not been our experience that people have gone to Washington and have learned anything new,” Carney said in Oakville, Ont., on Thursday. “In the end there is one negotiator for Canada, and that is the government of Canada.”

Jivani was back in Washington on Wednesday, accompanied by a number of caucus colleagues on what the Conservative party said was an effort to carry “the Conservative party’s Team Canada message.” 

It was Jivani’s second trip to Washington this year, after he visited the U.S. capital in February on what he said was “an independent trip billed as an effort to improve Canada-U.S. trade relations.”

WATCH | ‘There is one negotiator,’ says Carney on Conservative MP trips to Washington D.C.:

‘There is one negotiator,’ says Carney on Conservative MP trips to Washington D.C.

Asked whether Conservative trade missions to the U.S. are helping or hurting trade talks, Prime Minister Mark Carney said the government is the only negotiator in tariff discussions, but added that ‘people can go where they wish.’

On the February trip, Jivani’s itinerary included meeting his university friend, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and officials from General Motors. 

Jivani told U.S. news outlet Semafor at the time that he went to Washington to convey the message that “we’re all on the same team, and we don’t need to be fighting with each other.”

At the time, Carney dismissed the notion that his government would work with Jivani to address the ongoing trade war with the United States. 

“We have extensive contacts with the U.S. administration,” Carney said, adding that Jivani is neither the minister of international trade nor the prime minister of Canada. 

‘We’re the negotiators’

Carney expressed a similar sentiment Thursday in Oakville when asked about the Conservative MP’s trip to Washington this week. 

“Our interlocutors in the United States are generous people. They’re generous with their time and it’s good of them to meet a host of Canadians coming down, but in the end they know and we know that we’re the negotiators.”

On Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre was asked for his reaction to Jivani’s latest trip but offered little in response. 

“I don’t have any information on that at this point to share,” he said. “Our MPs have been consistently going to Washington to fight for tariff-free trade.”

Later in the day, a spokesperson for Poilievre’s office told The Canadian Press that “a delegation” of Tory MPs in Washington included Conservative MPs Shuvaloy Majumdar, Michael Chong, Jacob Mantle and Corey Tochor.

“This is an opportunity to have the kind of direct, practical conversations that can help in the fight to protect and even expand tariff-free trade between our two countries. We expect this to be a positive and productive visit,” said spokesperson Sam Lilly.

Jamieson Greer and ‘America First’

Citing sources, The Canadian Press reported Thursday that about 40 people including Jivani and Canada’s Ambassador to the U.S. Mark Wiseman attended an event in Washington hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Canada.

Sources told CP that U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told those in attendance that “America First” is policy, not just a slogan, and that they should not expect a return to the way things were.

The meeting lasted more than an hour, and the sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about what was said told CP that Greer also told attendees that the Trump administration is not looking to disrupt the energy relationship between the two countries.

According to the sources, Greer said the United States is looking to work with Canada on energy and critical minerals development in ways that are mutually beneficial.

Greer also said Canada should not attempt to use those resources as leverage during the upcoming review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, the sources said.