Carney says he had several talks with Trump during G7 despite no official meeting

Prime Minister Mark Carney says he’s had several informal discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump during the G7 summit in France and that more are planned.

Carney and Trump do not have an official bilateral meeting scheduled during the G7, which ends today.

Carney said the president only had scheduled bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

While Macron is the only G7 leader Trump has met with at the G7 so far, he also held bilateral meetings with the leaders of Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

He is set to meet today with the leaders of Egypt and India. 

“I had seven or eight discussions with President Trump over the course of the last 36 hours,” Carney told reporters in the picturesque resort town of Évian-les-Bains in the French Alps.

He said they spoke about the economy, artificial intelligence, Ukraine and the U.S.-Iran peace deal. Carney also said he got Trump a birthday present and that he “likes it a lot.”

Asked why no bilateral meeting took place, Carney said: “there’s no message in that.”

The summit was delayed by a day after Trump announced that the White House would host a UFC fight on June 14, which is Flag Day in the United States and was Trump’s 80th birthday.

In an interview Tuesday with CNN, Carney said he had seen the preliminary agreement for Iran and that it “exceeded” his expectations. 

Carney said Canada will do what it can to help in putting the deal in place.

The summit comes as trade talks between Canada and the U.S. remain tense, with no clear decision on whether to extend the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA.

Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the G7.

On Tuesday, Carney was heard telling Trump about Canada’s plan to import a limited number of Chinese electric vehicles, to which the president responded: “That’s good, I like it.”

Carney later told reporters that the president likes the deal and the pair had a followup conversation about it.

Trump has previously criticized the deal, threatening new tariffs and saying Canada won’t be allowed to be a “drop-off port” for Chinese vehicles to enter the U.S.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 17, 2026.

By Catherine Morrison | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.