Trump administration officials held "covert meetings" with members of a separatist movement of Canada's Alberta province, British outlet The Financial Times reported earlier this week.
The Alberta Prosperity Project (APP) is a far-right group whose members have met with US State Department officials in Washington three times in the past nine months, people familiar with the talks were cited by FT as saying.
APP leaders are seeking another meeting in February with officials from the Trump administration's State and Treasury Departments to request a USD 500 billion credit line to help bankroll an independence referendum, should such a referendum be called, the outlet stated.
"The US is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta," APP legal counsel Jeff Rath told FT. Rath attended the reported meetings, the outlet clarified.
Rath claimed to FT that he had a "much stronger relationship" with the Trump administration than he has with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
"The State Department regularly meets with civil society types. As is typical in routine meetings such as these, no commitments were made," a State Department spokesperson was cited as saying.
"Administration officials meet with a number of civil society groups. No such support, or any other commitments, was conveyed," a White House official added.
A person familiar with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's "thinking" stated that neither he nor any other Treasury officials were aware of any such credit facility proposal. No senior Treasury Department official had received a request for a meeting, the source added.
The Treasury Department and Carney's office both declined to respond to FT's requests for a comment.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith opposes provincial independence, yet lowered the threshold for holding a referendum in 2025, the outlet noted.
"The overwhelming majority of Albertans are not interested in becoming a US state," Smith's spokesperson said.
The Alberta Forever Canada campaign, which is a counter-petition opposing independence, received 438,568 signatures last year, FT noted.
Alberta is an oil-rich province, and the birthplace of Carney, the outlet noted.
Carney expects Trump administration to respect Canadian sovereignty
Carney, responding to FT's report, said he expects the Trump administration to respect Canadian sovereignty.
"We expect the US administration to respect Canadian sovereignty. I'm always clear in my conversations with President Trump to that effect," Carney told a press conference.
Trump, Carney added, had never raised the question of Alberta separatism with him.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said that the APP meeting with the Trump administration to seek financial backing is an act of "treason," public broadcaster CBC reported on Thursday.
"To go to a foreign country and to ask for assistance in breaking up Canada, there's an old-fashioned word for that, and that word is treason," he said.
"It is completely inappropriate to seek to weaken Canada, to go and ask for assistance, to break up this country from a foreign power, and, with respect, a president who has not been particularly respectful of Canada's sovereignty," he added.
"I think that while we can respect the right of any Canadian to express themselves to vote in a referendum, I think we need to draw the line at people seeking the assistance of foreign countries to break up this beautiful land of ours," he emphasized.
"Alberta has a wealth of natural resources, but they won't let them build a pipeline to the Pacific," Bessent said in a televised interview. "I think we should let them come down into the US, and Alberta is a natural partner for the US. They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people," he added.
Reuters contributed to this report.