For a while there, things were going so well. Prime Minister Mark Carney — aka “the Trump whisperer” — had morphed from critic to texting buddy of the U.S. President. Over the past three months, Carney had been chatting with Trump, building backchannel goodwill. After the successful G7 summit in Kananaskis, hopes were high that Ottawa would strike a deal with Washington in 30 days, and that the rhetoric of making us the “51st state” had finally been retired.