PRESIDENT TRUMP and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held a friendly sparring session over trade and Canada’s independence Tuesday in front of cameras in the Oval Office.

The two leaders appeared friendly and at ease, even after Trump belittled Canada over social media only minutes before Carney arrived at the White House.

Once the cameras began rolling, it was mostly warmth and good-natured ribbing between the two leaders, despite the backdrop of tensions over tariffs and Trump’s repeated suggestions of making Canada the 51st state.

Trump pointed out that Carney’s party appeared headed for a big defeat earlier this year, but the electoral tides turned when Trump began making his trade war threats and musings about annexing Canada.

“I think I was probably the greatest thing to happen to him, but I can’t take full credit,” Trump said.

“I just want to be friends with Canada,” he added later. “Regardless of anything, we’re going to be friends with Canada.”

Still, the tensions between the two leaders were apparent at times.

Trump reiterated his desire to make Canada the 51st state.

“I still believe that,” Trump said, saying that the border between the U.S. and Canada seems random to him. “But it takes two to tango, right?”

Carney said repeatedly that Canada is “not for sale” and “won’t be for sale ever.”

“Time will tell,” Trump responded. “It’s only time. But I say, never say never. I’ve had many many things that are not doable, and they ended up being doable.”

On trade, the president said the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) he negotiated in his first term to replace NAFTA may not be necessary anymore, calling it a “transitional deal.”

Carney called the USMCA the “basis for an existing negotiation” on tariffs.

Also during Carney’s visit, Trump announced that the U.S. is calling off air strikes against the Iranian-backed Houthis, saying they reached out to his administration to communicate they don’t want to fight anymore.

And the president teased a “very big announcement” ahead of his trip to the Middle East next week.

“As big as it gets and I won’t tell you on what, but it’s very positive,” Trump said.

Read The Hill’s 5 takeaways from the Trump-Carney meeting here.

Trump on Tuesday downplayed the need for trade deals with other countries, even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent teed up a possible near-term announcement or two.

“We don’t have to sign deals,” Trump said. “They have to sign deals with us. They want a piece of our market. We don’t want a piece of their market…Think of us as a super luxury store. A store that has the goods.”

In testimony before Congress, Bessent said he expects to begin announcing new trade deals “as early as this week” with “some of our largest trading partners.”

However, Bessent said the administration has not engaged in negotiations with China yet.

The U.S. trade deficit expanded in the first quarter of the year, although this was likely due to companies rushing to import foreign products before the tariffs kicked in.

Former Vice President Mike Pence warned of a “price shock” and other consequences of the trade wars in an interview on CNN.

Toy manufacturer Mattel, which makes Barbie dolls, announced it would be “taking pricing action” due to the tariffs.

That announcement comes as Trump has repeatedly returned to a talking point about how children can make do with fewer dolls if the price of dolls goes up.

“I don’t think that a beautiful baby girl needs — that’s 11 years old — needs to have 30 dolls,” Trump said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press”. “I think they can have three dolls or four dolls.”

Hollywood is trying to figure out what to make of Trump’s threat to slap tariffs on foreign-made films, although some are hopeful it could present an opportunity for new federal tax incentives to make the U.S. more competitive.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) on Tuesday pushed for a “real federal partnership to Make America Film Again.”

Still, Trump’s threat infuriated California Democrats, who described the idea of a tariff on films as “nonsensical.”

“There are things that we can do to increase production [and encourage] the film industry to film in the United States,” Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, told reporters. “We should be looking at those ideas and strategies, not reckless tariffs that will cost people jobs and raise costs for Americans.”

Actor Jon Voight says he gave Trump the idea for a tariff on movies.

The U.S. is the largest film and television exporter in the world, although physical productions in Los Angeles are down sharply because other states, such as Georgia, and countries, including the United Kingdom, offer generous tax incentives.

💡Perspectives:

• The Atlantic: The ‘significant risk’ that Republicans tank the economy.

• The Guardian: Trump can rage, but he can’t govern.

• The Hill: Democrats need to walk the walk and stop stock trading.

• The Hill: Democrats are going Hogg wild and tanking their own incumbents.

• The Hill: Trump’s attack on ActBlue violates the First Amendment.

Read more: 

• Fed, Powell set to hold ground despite pressure from Trump.

• The Movement: Heritage Foundation president forges new Trump legacy.

• Trump changes his tune on the economy.

• Republicans grow antsy after Trump comments on tariffs, recession.

• Universities sue over National Science Foundation funding cuts.

• The Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to begin enforcing a ban on transgender troops serving openly in the military.

   

• The Department of Justice is proposing Google sell two of its advertising products following a judge’s ruling that the tech giant illegally acquired and maintained a monopoly in the ad tech sector.

• Pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a building at the University of Washington in Seattle.

• Education Secretary Linda McMahon told Harvard University it will no longer be eligible for new research grants from the government.

©  Greg Nash

Several House Democrats walked out of a hearing on cryptocurrency legislation Tuesday over objections to President Trump’s growing ventures into the digital assets industry.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, initially sought to block the hearing on cryptocurrency legislation, citing the Trump family’s expanding global crypto portfolio.

Instead, Waters and other Democrats walked out of the hearing, depriving the committee off unanimous consent.

“I am deeply concerned that Republicans aren’t just ignoring Trump’s corruption, they are legitimizing Trump and his family’s efforts to enrich themselves on the backs of average Americans,” Waters said.

House Republicans and some remaining Democrats instead held an informal roundtable with the witnesses.

Senate Democrats are pushing for an inquiry into a recent deal announced by the Trump family’s crypto firm, citing conflicts of interest and the potential for foreign influence peddling.

World Liberty Financial, launched by Trump and his sons, revealed last week its new stablecoin would be used to complete a $2 billion transaction between Emirati firm MGX and crypto exchange Binance.

Republican Senate leaders are planning a vote on legislation that would create a framework for stablecoins this week, even as crypto-friendly Senate Democrats pull their support for the bill.

The Hill’s Alexander Bolton reports: “Nine Democratic senators who previously supported the bill said in a statement Saturday that they would not be able to vote for the current version.”

• Speaker Mike Johnson says he’s optimistic he’ll advance Trump’s agenda bill, despite committee delays sparked by internal divisions among Congressional Republicans.

“I don’t make promises I can’t keep. This is a consensus building operation,” Johnson said.

“I think at the end of the day, we’ll get that consensus. And you know, there may be some grumbling about certain provisions, but as the Whip said so aptly this morning in the conference meeting, he said, ‘You gotta, you gotta focus on the totality of the bill and not just individual details’.”

Johnson has said he wants the House to pass the bill by Memorial Day. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has circled July 4 as his target for moving the bill through the upper chamber.

💡Perspectives:

• The Hill: Kemp’s Georgia decision a worst-case Senate scenario for the GOP.

• The Liberal Patriot: Democrats are forgetting an important lesson from Obama.

• Washington Examiner: Biden’s decline.

• The Washington Post: A billionaire in the Dems’ fight against the oligarchy.

• USA Today: Trump admits the Constitution only counts if it’s convenient.

Read more: 

• GOP leader: Trump pick to serve as US attorney for DC won’t reach floor.

• Conservative group launches ad buy responding to Medicaid attacks.

• Ocasio-Cortez passes on top Oversight Committee position bid.

• Bipartisan senators offer new bill aimed at lowering drug prices.

• Trump puts IRS in middle of fight with Harvard.

©  AP Photo/Evan Vucci

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy plans to “radically transform” air traffic control amid a slew of delays, disasters and near-misses at major U.S. airports.

“We’re going to build a brand-new air traffic control system — from new telecom, to new radars, to new infrastructure. We’re bringing on new air traffic controllers,” Duffy said. “This has been a problem in the decades coming, and we’re going to fix it.”

Duffy will announce his full plans Thursday.

The latest mishap: Controllers and pilots suffered a complete loss of communication for 30 seconds last week at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.

Here’s what to know about the chaos at Newark.

ELSEWHERE…

• A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s request to revoke the temporary legal status of nearly a million migrants living in the country.

The 1st U.S. Circuit court of Appeals said a judge’s order that stopped the Department of Homeland Security from ending parole protections for people who entered the U.S. through the CBP One app could stay in place, meaning that about 1 million migrants who came to the U.S. seeking asylum under the Biden administration will maintain their legal status for now.

• President Trump signed several executive orders over the past 24 hours.

The administration will seek to enforce a ban on federal funding going toward gain-of-function research, which was at the center of debate over the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hill’s Brett Samuels writes:

“The field of research alters viruses to, in some cases, make them more potent or contagious for research purposes. Gain of function research in Wuhan, China, has been at the center of theories about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.”

Trump also signed an order meant to streamline the permitting process for building pharmaceutical manufacturing sites.

• And the president declared national holidays on Nov. 11 and May 8 to commemorate victories in World War I and World War II.

“We won two World Wars, but we never took credit for it — Everyone else does!” Trump posted on Truth Social. 

💡Perspectives:

• Fox News: Trump is right to block gain-of-function research.

• The Harvard Crimson: Harvard needs more viewpoint diversity.

• Foreign Affairs: America’s coming brain drain.

• The Wall Street Journal: America’s air traffic fiasco.

• The Free Press: Trump’s graduation speech on motivation.

Read more: 

• Education Department warns universities over student loan repayments.

• Israel puts screws to Hamas ahead of Trump’s Gulf trip.

• Hegseth wants deep cuts to active-duty 4-star generals, admirals.

• Trump administration will defend FDA against abortion pill lawsuit.

• Trump meets with recently freed American ballerina in Oval Office.

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