Mark Carney and Donald Trump’s Oval Office pool spray on May 6th, 2025/CPAC screencap

By Lisa Van Dusen

May 6, 2025

In the realm of American political rituals, the Oval Office “pool spray” doesn’t quite top the list of presidential traditions that have been upended by Donald Trump — the peaceful transition of power, the inaugural address, and a glancing acquaintanceship with the US Constitution all rate higher on the litany of obliterated norms than the classic, seated, fireplace-flanking bilateral handshake.

The earliest examples produced by perfunctory search of bilateral Oval Office photo-ops with foreign leaders and dignitaries date back to the Nixon era; early versions with King Hussein, Prince Charles and others. Between then and the age of Trumpian disruption, the practice changed little except for the addition of television cameras and reporters to the photo pool, which predictably led to impromptu questions, then, as the White House press corps expanded, loudly shouted questions.

But the Oval Office pool spray (the etymology of “spray” here unclear, but presumably based on the bouquet of boom mics that accompanies all such moments, not to be confused with a “gaggle”, an informal briefing by the WH press secretary, in their office, without cameras) was always a relatively brief affair, sometimes as fleeting as five minutes. With most presidents, comments were circumspect, cordial and largely substance-free, so as to pre-empt any public negotiating ahead of in-camera diplomacy.

During Trump’s second presidency, this seemingly straightforward “media avail” has been transformed into something of an autocratic set piece more akin to a Fidel Castro speech or an annual Putin newser; a branded, personality-dominated exercise in selective-reality styling that exploits the delicate interplay between despot and captive audience to systematically dispense with a series of items on a propaganda checklist.

That was the case with Trump’s notorious pool spray with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in March, during which the global public was treated to the spectacle of a former reality show host ambushing a former comedian on everything from his lack of “cards” in seeking the rational settlement of an illegal war to his wardrobe.

The result was such a low point in the pantheon of Oval Office pool sprays that it added the term “Full Zelensky” to the US political lexicon (not to be confused with the “Full Ginsburg”, which refers to the act of appearing on all five Sunday shows in the same Sunday, first accomplished by Monica Lewinsky attorney William H. Ginsburg on February 1st 1998).

The chances of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney escaping a similar bilateral bushwack in his first Trump pool spray on Tuesday were about 70-30 going in, based on Carney’s economist pedigree, his relative newness as a shiny object/nickname target/political piñata, and his status as an interlocutor who bears no immediate degradation value for Vladimir Putin.

Trump then responded, ‘Never say never,’ to which Carney countered, ‘Never, never, never, never, never,’ completing what was surely the oddest public, face-to-face Canada-US heads-of-government exchange in history.

In the event, Carney deftly walked the tightrope between Canadian courtesy and sovereignty assertion, picking his moments to intervene, sailing by the most obvious Trumpian headline bait — about Chrystia Freeland, Justin Trudeau, Barack Obama, the “artificially drawn” border, Joe Biden — and displaying both sufficient, carefully controlled righteous indignation to reassure Canadians and just enough butter to keep Trump’s combustible ego in check.

As close observer and President of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association of Canada Flavio Volpe said in his CBC post-game commentary, Carney’s approach was “a disciplined handling of an undisciplined president.”

On the key question of Donald Trump’s inappropriate expressions of his stated “love” for Canada in the form of relentless threats of non-consensual annexation — nuanced by his reiterated observation Tuesday that “It takes two to Tango” — Carney responded to Trump’s comparison of Canada’s conquest as the 51st state to a real estate deal by saying “there are some places that are never for sale.”

“Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale and it won’t be for sale, ever,” Carney said. Trump then responded, “Never say never,” to which Carney countered, “Never, never, never, never, never,” completing what was surely the oddest public, face-to-face Canada-US heads-of-government exchange in history.

On the reality-based substance, Trump reiterated a number of falsehoods and distortions about how trade works, what trade deficits mean, what Canada is, and whether CUSMA is a great deal or not, though that last bit was more positive than his previous comments. That relative enthusiasm about our re-negotiated continental trade agreement can, of course, be taken to the bilateral bank.

In his post-bilateral newser on the roof of the Canadian embassy across Pennsylvania Ave. from Capitol Hill, Carney was sanguine. “We had what I would describe as wide-ranging and very constructive discussions,” he told reporters. He also confirmed that Trump will attend the G7 Kananaskis, without citing any security guarantees precluding post-summit sabotage tweeting.

Moving forward, both parties agreed to negotiations on the bilateral economic and security relationship, with no immediate guarantee of an end to Trump’s weaponization of tariffs against Canada and the world. “As with all trade negotiations, there is the process, and there is the outcome,” Carney said, discouraging any conclusions reached based on incremental developments or lack thereof. Domestically, Carney will host a first ministers’ debrief on Wednesday.

All in all, what was arguably the most closely watched Canada-US bilateral meeting in our joint history seems to have, at this writing and with all the usual Trump-based provisos, stayed on the rails. In large part because Carney very carefully kept it there.

Policy Editor and Publisher Lisa Van Dusen has served as Washington bureau chief for Sun Media, international writer for Peter Jennings at ABC News, senior writer for Maclean’s and as an editor at AP National in New York and UPI in Washington.