Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking relief from President Donald Trump’s tariffs during his visit to Washington on Tuesday, facing pressure at home to secure a trade win.

However, the White House did not indicate it would ease up on its northern neighbor, which Trump has derided as the 51st state.

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A White House official told the Washington Examiner not to anticipate any movement regarding tariff relief for Canada to be announced on Tuesday.

“They’ll have touch points and advance staff level discussions,” the source said. “But I don’t think we’re looking at — I’m sure it could change, obviously, depending on conversations, I suppose — but the sectoral tariffs are, like, the ends that we’re looking for are longer term and not something we can negotiate away.”

Though traditional allies, Trump’s tariff regime has hit Canada especially hard and covers hundreds of billions worth of traded goods. Most exports to the United States face a 35% flat tariff rate, while energy and potash imports are tariffed at 10%. Products in compliance with the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement brokered by Trump during his first term are not subject to an additional tariff rate.

Furthermore, like all other countries, Canada is subject to 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum products and other sectoral tariffs, including cars, and more to be announced in the coming weeks.

Trump and Carney are meeting again at the White House as Carney faces renewed pressure at home to strike a trade deal.

Experts told the Washington Examiner that Carney is coming to Washington with the hope of relief from Trump’s tariffs on steel.

Atlantic Council GeoStrategy Initiative Associate Director Imran Bayoumi confirmed Canada is looking for “significant economic relief” so Carney can “translate this meeting into a broader national security and trade agreement.” 

“Washington is looking to make a trade deal too, though Trump likely feels less pressure; he is the one who put the tariffs in place,” Bayoumi told the Washington Examiner. “Domestically, Carney faces a lot of pressure to get a deal and negotiate some relief on tariffs.”

Carney, for example, repealed Canada’s digital service tax and stopped dollar-for-dollar tariffs on most U.S. imports, but according to Bayoumi, this has not resulted in a new trade deal.

“This comes as other American trade partners have struck a trade deal with Washington,” he continued. “I don’t expect the meeting to be the announcement of a deal, but it’s a starting point.”

Aside from trade and tariffs, Center for Strategic and International Studies Americas Program Deputy Director Christopher Hernandez-Roy added that Carney is also trying to take advantage of the opportunity to “deepen his relationship” with Trump so they can discuss other complicated issues, from defense to Ukraine and Gaza, as well as next year’s review of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. 

Hernandez-Roy told Washington Examiner that “Carney will certainly try to seek relief, especially on the steel and aluminum tariffs, in addition to autos and softwood lumber.”

In turn, Trump will be trying to “secure a commitment from Carney to join the Golden Dome continental missile defense shield, and may want Canada to commit to a role on the ground as part of the new Gang Suppression Force in Haiti, just approved by the [U.N.] Security Council.”

Council on Foreign Relations Stanton nuclear security senior fellow Erin Dumbacher agreed that, “if the negotiations expand beyond tariffs and economic policy, it could be a smart move for Carney to make offers to contribute to ‘Golden Dome,’ as it seems the Canadian leader has tried in earlier outreach.” 

“Particularly clever would be Canadian investments that build on existing North American defense collaborations,” Dumbacher told the Washington Examiner. “It would be a win for the American taxpayer if Canada continued to contribute meaningfully.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was vague about Tuesday’s meeting, though she told reporters during her Monday briefing that, “I’m sure trade will be a topic of discussion,” supplementing “all of the other issues that are facing both Canada and the United States.”

“I know the president looks forward to having that discussion with Carney in the Oval Office,” Leavitt said.

Carney entered office in May of this year, buoyed in large part by anti-Conservative sentiment among the Canadian electorate amid Trump’s escalating rhetoric on trade and annexing Canada. The pair met at the White House that month, and again in Canada during the G7 leaders summit in June, before eventually settling on an Aug. 1 deadline to reach a new trade framework and tackle the flow of fentanyl into North America.

Trump, however, upended those talks in July after Canada announced a new digital services tax on American technology companies, instead choosing to implement a flat 35% tariff rate on Canadian imports to America out of compliance with the USMCA deal. Furthermore, Canada has faced 50% steel and aluminum tariffs, an increase from the originally proposed 25% duties, since June.

Pierre Polievre, Canada’s Conservative Party leader, lost to Carney in this year’s election. Though he initially avoided criticizing the prime minister’s handling of Trump’s tariff agenda, he urged Carney to “negotiate a win” during Tuesday’s meeting.

“U.S. tariffs on Canada are twice as high as when you were elected, saying you would get rid of them. You promised ‘elbows up,’ but then caved on dollar-for-dollar counter-tariffs, the Digital Services Tax, and more while winning nothing in return for Canada,” he wrote in a letter sent to Carney’s office last week. “No more losing. It is time for you to deliver the promised wins.”

A White House source — who, despite the differences between Trump and Carney, predicted a “cordial” meeting — said it is “more realistic” to expect movement on USMCA trade agreement talks, as the Trump administration has already begun its review ahead of next year’s deadline, rather than the announcement of any specific deal on Tuesday.

Trump himself predicted that Carney hoped to talk about trade while speaking to reporters Monday evening.

“I think he’s coming, probably, to talk about tariffs, because a lot of companies are leaving Canada to come into the U.S., and they’re leaving Mexico, and by the way, they’re leaving China,” he stated. “They’re leaving all over the world to come into the U.S. Nobody’s actually seen anything like it.”

“We see it as a national economic security issue that we’re not producing aluminum or we’re not producing lumber, or autos, or auto parts, so that stuff — we need to have that here,” he added.

During Trump’s first meeting with Carney at the White House, the president privately agreed to stop alluding to Canada as the 51st state of the U.S., a pledge he appeared to forget last week during his address to his military generals. 

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Tuesday’s meeting at the White House follows an informal meeting between Trump and Carney last month during the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

They also spent some time together in June when Carney hosted the Group of Seven leaders summit in Canada, an economic-focused conference from which Trump departed early before he ordered a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.