Former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton is cautioning not to read too much into the more positive tone struck by U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Mark Carney following Friday’s phone call between the two, but said if the commander-in-chief is a fan of the Liberal leader, a smoother bilateral relationship could be possible.
“I don’t think you should over-conclude on the basis of one telephone call, but both sides tried to give a positive reading to it,” Bolton said in an interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos, when asked how much Canadians should read into Trump’s apparent change in tone.
Carney and Trump had a highly anticipated phone call on Friday, the pair’s first since Carney became prime minister two weeks ago. The conversation also followed the president’s latest move to implement further tariffs on Canadian goods.
On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all automobile imports into the U.S., starting next week. Auto parts that are compliant with the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) will be exempt from the levies until the U.S. commerce secretary and U.S. Customs and Border Protection “establish a process” to tax exclusively the non-American vehicle components.
The move led Carney to say the decades-long Canada-U.S. relationship marked by “deepening integration” and “security and military cooperations” is “over.”
Coming out of the call on Friday, however, Trump struck a different tone toward Canada compared to the last several months, writing on social media that it was an “extremely productive call.”
Trump also referred to Carney as “prime minister,” instead of “governor,” the moniker he used to refer to former prime minister Justin Trudeau while making comments about Canada becoming the 51st state.
Later on Friday, speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump said he and “Mark” had a “very good conversation,” and a “very good talk.”
Bolton — who also formerly served as ambassador to the United Nations, and with the U.S. Department of State in various roles — said Trump’s perspective on foreign relations is “simple:” he views U.S. bilateral relationships “through a personal prism.”
“So, he has good relations with a foreign leader, he thinks U.S. relations with that country are good,” said Bolton, who served as NSA from 2018-2019, during Trump’s first term as president. “For well or ill, he’s never liked (former prime minister) Justin Trudeau, and I think that explains a lot of it.”
“Now, if it turns out he likes (Mark) Carney — or (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre, if he wins — that would be a big step forward,” Bolton added. “If Trump believes that he has friendly relations with someone you know, like (Russian President) Vladimir Putin, then relations between the two countries will be much better.”
Bolton in his interview also discussed Trump’s plan to impose retaliatory tariffs on April 2 — which the president has referred to as “Liberation Day” — as well as the national security scandal that ensued after senior members of Trump’s administration included the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic on a group chat discussing plans to strike the Houthis in Yemen.
You can watch former U.S. NSA John Bolton’s full interview on CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos in the video player at the top of this article.
