Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that there is “not a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will become part of the United States”. Donald Trump Threatened to force integration through “economic force”.
In a wide-ranging press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida two weeks before taking office, Trump said “we don't need anything” that Canada trades with the United States, and Again he repeated his statements. Canada is an American state.
Trudeau's statement, which On Monday, he announced his resignation from the post of Prime Minister. After the election of a new Liberal leader, it marks their strongest pushback yet against Trump, who has repeatedly referred to Trudeau as “the governor.”
Trump's remarks on Tuesday, meanwhile, were the latest in a string of recent threats against longtime US allies, renewing questions and concerns about plans to use trade as a whip, and similar comments. were superior. He has talked about making Canada a part of the United States.
Trump told reporters he would not rule out using military action to take back control of the Panama Canal and take over Denmark-controlled Greenland, which he said the U.S. needed for economic and security reasons. is
Asked if he was “considering annexing and acquiring Canada,” Trump replied, “No — economic power.”
“Canada and America, it's really going to be something,” he said. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what it looks like, and it's going to be a lot better for national security, too.”
“There's not a snowball's chance in hell that Canada will become part of the United States,” Trudeau later wrote on X.
“Workers and communities in our two countries benefit from being each other's largest trade and security partners,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. “subsidizes” Canada to the tune of $200 billion in trade and spends billions more than Canada on continental defense programs like NORAD, which he said is “essentially the military.” No.”
“We don't need their cars, we don't need their wood,” he continued. “We don't need anything they have. We don't need their dairy products.
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“We don't need anything. So why are we losing $200 billion a year and more to protect Canada?
Canada and the United States are each other's top trading partners, with $3.6 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border every day. The U.S. Trade Representative's office says the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — which is distinct from subsidies — was $53.5 billion in 2022.
Trump first floated the idea of Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state when he hosted Trudeau and other Canadian officials at Mar-a-Lago in November, Trump's plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on all products from Canada and Mexico. Immediately following the threat of tariffs.
Although Canadian It was said at the time that Trump was joking.the US president-elect has repeated the comment several times on social media, referring to Trudeau as “the governor”.
Trump said Tuesday that because of the money the U.S. spends on Canada, “they should be a state.”
“We're doing it out of habit, and we're doing it because we like our neighbors and we've been good neighbors, but we can't do it forever,” he said.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilever said in December that Canada would never become the 51st US state.
“We are a proud people with a glorious past and a glorious future,” he told reporters at the time.
Trump said on Tuesday that “I don't care” about comments from Poilievre, whose conservative party holds a strong majority in the state. According to an Ipsos poll conducted last month for Global News.
Trump has suggested he plans to follow through on his threat of tariffs on Canada, despite initially tying it to demands for increased border security, which Ottawa has tried to address.
He said the tariffs would “supplement” the “record numbers” of immigrants and drugs coming into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.
“We want to get along with everybody, but you know, it takes two to tango,” he said.
Trump's comments about Canada came hours after US President Joe Biden praised Trudeau. Strengthening US-Canada Relations as Prime Minister
Trump says NATO members should spend 5 percent.
Trump also said he wants NATO members to spend at least five percent of their GDP on defense. The military coalition has set a spending target of two percent, which Canada is currently unable to meet.
“If you have a country and a regular military, you're four percent,” Trump said. The US currently spends 3.38% on defense.
“They can all afford it, but they should be five percent, not two percent.”
Canada, which currently spends 1.37 percent of GDP on defense, is currently projected to reach 1.76 percent by 2030. Government Says it is on a “clear path” to reach two percent. By 2032, though the Parliamentary Budget Officer has expressed skepticism about the spending plan.
NATO allies, including the United States, have criticized Canada for years for not meeting the two percent target under the Biden administration and during Trump's first term.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested that NATO's spending target should be raised to three percent in the face of the growing threat posed by Russia and other foreign adversaries.
Trump on Tuesday repeated his oft-told story of refusing to come to the aid of NATO members who cannot meet spending targets if they are attacked, but said the threat This led to more members increasing their defense spending.
“I took a lot of heat from the media (for making that threat),” Trump said. “And you know what happened? Money started coming in. That's why NATO has money.
Biden has taken credit for leading efforts to rally Western allies around support for Ukraine after Russia invaded in 2022, with 23 members now meeting the target, compared with just six in 2021.