On May 6, 2025, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Donald Trump and reporters at the Oval Office. President Trump reiterated his call for Canada to become the 51st state. Prime Minister Carney reiterated that his country “is not for sale.”

President Trump responded with a cliché: “Never say never.”

How to respond to that?

Failure to respond in front of reporters might be perceived in Canada as a sign of agreement. Publicly disagreeing would embarrass the President and add difficulty to private negotiations of tariffs between the two countries.

Instead of confronting the President, PM Carney worked with the President's clichéd utterance. He turned towards a camera and mouthed “Never” without saying the forbidden word. (Monga & Leary, 2025.)

To view the interaction: interaction:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zIsWr959EI&list=RDNS2zIsWr959EI&start_radio=1In.

That was a master class in how........

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