Canada’s Mark Carney says he will not meet President Trump bilaterally at G7, rejects claim it is a snub

Canadian Finance Minister and former central bank governor Mark Carney said he would not have a bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the Group of Seven summit, while dismissing suggestions the arrangement amounts to a diplomatic snub. The comment came as G7 leaders prepared for scheduled engagements in the format typically reserved for face-to-face talks between leaders of major economies.

The Biden and previous U.S. presidential administrations have often included bilateral meetings with Canadian counterparts during G7 summits, according to reporting that noted the longstanding pattern. PBS NewsHour reported that this year’s agenda does not include that same Canada-U.S. one-on-one format, drawing attention to whether Canada’s senior delegation had been intentionally sidelined.

Carney, in remarks reported by PBS NewsHour, said the absence of a bilateral meeting with Trump was not a snub. He framed the decision in terms of the broader structure of summit scheduling rather than any deliberate effort to reduce ties between the two countries, which share an extensive economic relationship and coordinated work through multiple international forums.

The reported dispute centers less on substantive policy disagreements than on process and optics at the highest level of summit diplomacy. U.S.-Canada relations touch on trade and investment, cross-border regulation, and joint approaches on international economic issues, all of which are typically reinforced through both formal G7 sessions and separate leader-to-leader discussions.

The PBS report emphasized that Canada’s leaders are commonly granted an opportunity for bilateral talks with the American president at G7 meetings. This year, Carney indicated that expectation would not be met, even as he sought to prevent the episode from becoming a broader narrative about U.S.-Canada status or respect.

It was not immediately reported in the PBS account whether Trump and Carney would have alternative channels for direct discussions at the summit, such as through other meetings in the program or separate consultations outside the bilateral leader format. For now, the central point is that Carney is arguing against a reading of the agenda gap as intentional disrespect.

Next, the focus at the summit is expected to remain on the plenary sessions and any multilateral meetings that bring together G7 partners, while the question of whether bilateral contact occurs through other means is likely to depend on the final agenda and any additional statements from participating governments.