Carney says he asked Trump to stop calling Canada 51st state: 'There's a difference between wish and reality'

Canada Prime Minister Mark Carney publicly told President Donald Trump that Canada is not for sale. But privately he also asked the president to not refer to Canada as the 51st state, he revealed to the reporters after the meeting was over. On Canada is not for sale statement, Trump publicly responded with a stoic 'time will tell'. But how did he respond to Carney's request of not using the phrase that has almost become Trump's favorite? Carney said Trump is hiw own person but he (Carney) was clear to convey that there is a difference between wish and reality.

“We’ll see, look, I don’t know. He’s the president, he’s his own person. I would go back to showing the difference between a wish and a reality,” Carney said. “We’re very clear, I’ve been very clear publicly consistently. I’ve been clear in private. I was very clear again in the Oval Office, have been clear throughout.”

“The president has made known his wish about that issue for some time. I’ve been careful always to distinguish between wish and reality,” Carney told reporters.

"As a real estate developer, you know, I'm a real estate developer at heart," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "When you get rid of that artificially drawn line ... when you look at that beautiful formation when it's together, I'm a very artistic person."

"As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale," Carney said. "We're sitting in one right now, Buckingham Palace that you visited, as well. And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it's not for sale, it won't be for sale, ever. But the opportunity is in the partnership and what we can build together."

The meeting was amicable and did not turn out to be a shouting match like what happened at Trump's meeting with Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump heaped praise on Carney and said US and Canada will remain friends.