Rubio and Anand talk Gaza, Ukraine in 1st official meeting, but not trade

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked about the conflicts in both Gaza and Ukraine during their first official meeting on Thursday, their offices said.

Anand met Rubio in Washington, D.C., on Thursday morning. The two officials have spoken on the phone before, but their first official meeting came as Trump continues to ramp up the pressure on Canada through escalating tariffs and rhetoric.

Neither readout from Anand and Rubio’s offices mentioned the ongoing trade negotiations between Canada and the United States.

“Minister Anand and Secretary Rubio discussed the Canada-United States bilateral relationship and the two countries’ continued cooperation on shared priorities,” Global Affairs Canada said.

Those included “Russia’s continued aggression against Ukraine, opportunities to advance Arctic security” and “the security crisis in Haiti,” the statement continued.

“They also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including the urgent need for humanitarian aid to flow unobstructed, for Hamas to lay down its arms and for the hostages to be returned.”

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Anand called the meeting “productive” in a post on X.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggott said the two ministers discussed “efforts to support Haiti’s security and overcome Hamas’s ongoing obstruction of peace in Gaza,” but made no mention of humanitarian aid efforts.

The statement said they also discussed “peace negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war” and countering coercive actions by China.

Rubio said on X that he and Anand “agreed on the need to support Haiti, end Hamas’ efforts to stand in the way of peace in Gaza, and to counter China’s coercive activity in our hemisphere.”

0:28 Canadian economy on ‘permanently lower path’ due to U.S. tariffs: Macklem

Trump signed an executive order last month that raised his tariffs on Canada to 35 per cent.

The White House said Trump was raising the tariff rate because Canada “has failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs” into the U.S., as well as Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on American goods.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “disappointed” by Trump’s decision to raise tariffs further.

“While the Canadian government is disappointed by this action, we remain committed to CUSMA, which is the world’s second-largest free trade agreement by trading volume,” Carney wrote in a letter posted on social media.

“The U.S. application of CUSMA means that the U.S. average tariff rate on Canadian goods remains one of its lowest for all of its trading partners.”

Rubio has previously defended Trump’s threats to make Canada the 51st state as an “economic argument,” including while on Canadian soil earlier this year.

At the same time, he has stressed the importance of the U.S.-Canada relationship and the two countries’ ability to work together on shared priorities despite tensions with Trump.