Top Trump administration officials have met multiple times with leaders of a separatist movement in Canada that seeks to turn an oil-rich part of the country into an independent entity. The secret meetings, which have been ongoing since last spring, come as the relationship between President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has frayed. Recently, Carney deepened Canada’s trade relationship with China- setting off alarm bells in Washington.
Canada and China Strike Deal to Lower Trade Barriers
Beijing and Ottawa agreed to lower levies on Canadian canola oil and to allow some Chinese-made electric vehicles to be sold in Canada with far lower tax rates. Jeff Rath, the leader of the Alberta Prosperity Project, a group pushing for the western province to become independent, claimed he has a ‘much stronger relationship’ with the Trump administration than Carney, the Financial Times reports. Top officials from the Alberta Prosperity Project have convened with State Department officials in Washington at least three times since April 2025, sources revealed to the FT.
US Officials Move Quickly to Temper Expectations
‘The US is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta,’ Rath, who sat in on the meetings, has said. However, US officials have been quick to downplay the meetings, noting that no commitments have been made to the group. ‘The department regularly meets with civil society types. As is typical in routine meetings such as these, no commitments were made,’ a State Department spokesperson said. The White House similarly highlighted that no deal has been struck. ‘Administration officials meet with a number of civil society groups. No such support, or any other commitments, was conveyed,’ a White House official told the outlet.
The Alberta Prosperity Project is reportedly seeking a meeting as soon as next month with US Treasury Department officials. They plan on asking for $500 billion in credit to help fund the province if a yet to be called referendum results in the province’s independence. The group needs 177,000 signatures to bring an independence petition to the legislature by May. It has not said how many it has attained thus far. Coming at a tense moment between Trump and Carney, the president has made known is unease with Ottawa and Beijing deepening ties.
‘If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a drop off port for China to send goods and products into the United States he is sorely mistaken,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. ‘If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100 percent tariffs against all Canadian goods and products,’ the president threatened. Carney was quick to clarify on Sunday that any deal with China would have to go through proper channels under its trade deal with the US and Mexico, called USMCA.
Part of that deal restricts which non-market economies can sign deals with the North American countries. Any deal that Canada wishes to strike must first be notified to the US and Mexico. ‘We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy,’ Carney said Sunday.
