Carney to speak with Trump in Washington at FIFA World Cup draw

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he plans to visit Washington next week to attend the FIFA World Cup draw, and expects to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump there.

But he also downplayed expectations for the trip, which comes several weeks after Trump abruptly ended trade talks in anger over Ontario Premier Doug Ford's anti-tariff ad campaign that invoked Ronald Reagan.

“I don’t want to over-signal things,” Carney said at a news conference on Wednesday. “What matters is negotiations, when they re-engage. They haven’t re-engaged yet, so that’s the fundamental point.”

The prime minister said he’s planning to attend the draw because it’s an important event for Canada, which is co-hosting the tournament along with the U.S. and Mexico next year.

Carney said that he and Trump have conversations often despite the fact that talks between the two countries are on hold.

“This is the kind of thing I didn’t want to get drawn into, which is every little exchange. There are substantive meetings and conversations and negotiations, and that’s not what I’m alluding to,” he said.

Carney says he'll see Trump in Washington during FIFA World Cup draw

For example, he said, the two men had a short conversation on Tuesday. But pressed on the details by reporters, Carney said it was “not newsworthy.”

“My exchange with the president yesterday was not newsworthy,” he said. “I just responded to a question. It wasn’t newsworthy.”

On Sunday, asked at the G20 summit in South Africa when he had last spoken to Trump, Carney did not directly answer, saying they have had discussions, he had been busy and they would re-engage when appropriate.

Asked again to detail when he last spoke to Trump, Carney said: "Who cares? I mean, it's a detail. I spoke to