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Global News
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Global News
Military action against Canada is ‘highly unlikely,' Trump says
United States President Donald Trump said annexing Canada with military action is 'highly unlikely,' but for Greenland, he does not rule it out. In a Sunday interview on NBC's Meet the Press with Kristen Welker, Trump spoke from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., discussing his first 100 days back in office. The conversation spanned from the American economy and ongoing trade disputes to his controversial statements about expanding U.S. territory. Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of turning Canada into the '51st state.' And despite the backlash, Trump is not backing away from the idea, although he now says a military path to annexation may not happen. Trump told NBC it was 'highly unlikely' that the U.S. would need to use force. 'I think we're not ever going to get to that point, something could happen with Greenland … I don't see it with Canada, I just don't see it, I have to be honest with you,' he said. Story continues below advertisement 1:00 Canada election 2025: Carney insists Trump re-affirmed Canada's sovereignty during March phone call Trump left the door open to more assertive tactics involving Greenland, emphasizing the island's strategic value. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'I'll be honest, we need it for national and international security,' Trump said. 'I don't rule out anything; we need Greenland very badly. We need it for international security.' During the interview, Trump also said there is considerable support for him to run for a third term. 'But this is not something I'm looking to do,' Trump said. 'I'm looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.' Trump's remarks come just days before a scheduled meeting with Canada's newly elected Prime Minister, Mark Carney. Trump said has spoken cordially with Carney, saying he had congratulated him on his win and noted, 'he is a very nice man.' Story continues below advertisement 9:12 Trump claims to not only run America, but 'run the world' In recent months, amid wrangling over tariffs, Trump has intensified calls for Canada to become a U.S. state. On March 11, in a post on Truth Social, he wrote: 'The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.' Trump elaborated in the NBC interview: 'I will always talk about that. You know why? We subsidize Canada to the tune of $200 billion a year. We don't need anything that they have.' 'If Canada was a state, it would be great, it would be a cherished state. If you look at our map … when I look down, without that artificial line drawn with a ruler many years ago, it was just an artificial line … what a beautiful country it would be, it would be great.' Story continues below advertisement Carney has made it clear that Canada is not entertaining Trump's proposal, calling the remarks 'disrespectful.' — with files from the Associated Press
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Will Trump flip the Canadian election?
President Donald Trump's foreign policy hasn't just overturned global markets, it may have cost the Canadian Conservatives the parliamentary election on Monday. In January, Canada's Conservative Party led the Liberals by more than 25 percentage points in the federal race, with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau receiving record-low approval ratings, and his opponent, Pierre Poilievre, projected to secure a historic majority. 'It looked like, to all intents and purposes, a slam dunk for the Conservatives,' said Fen Hampson, a professor of international affairs at Carleton University in Ontario. 'Many pundits were predicting the demise of the Liberal Party.' Then Trump took office and immediately targeted Canada with his first round of new tariffs and doubled down on suggestions that the United States should annex its northern neighbor. 'The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,' Trump said in a post on March 11. 'This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.' In a rapid reversal, the Conservatives' lead evaporated as a greater number of voters shifted their priorities from domestic to international concerns. For the previous year, Poilievre had focused his message on labeling Trudeau as the source of Canada's ballooning debt, burgeoning inflation and burdensome carbon tax, according to Charles Bernard, the lead policy adviser for Impact Public Affairs, one of Canada's top political consulting firms. And it worked. 'The Conservative Party ideas were resonating,' Bernard said. 'Especially with the youth in Canada, on housing and cost of living and less government intervention.' But by the time Trudeau officially resigned in March, the unpopularity of his Liberal Party had become overshadowed by outrage toward the policies coming out of Washington, D.C., Bernard said. Now, the Liberal Party, under the leadership of political newcomer Mark Carney, holds a slight lead in most polls, with a majority of those who switched their support to the liberals citing Trump's actions and Carney's leadership as their top reasons for making the swap. For a third of Canadians, addressing Trump's policies is the No. 1 or No. 2 most important factor in determining how they plan to vote in the April 28 elections, polls show. And for many, this shift in top issues has pushed them to support Carney despite his former position as an economic adviser to Trudeau. 'Canadians really began to be quite concerned that Trump's ambitions weren't just tariffs, but to take over Canada,' Hampson said. 'What I would call 'bread and butter issues' were essentially relegated to the back burner and the front burner was, 'Who's best positioned to save Canada?'' In an interview with the Deseret News, Jason Ogg, a Montreal resident who is originally from Manitoba, said that his compatriots did not interpret Trump's 51st state comments as a joke. 'No, not at all,' Ogg said. As acting prime minister, Carney has emphasized his resume: appointed governor of the Bank of Canada in 2008 to manage the global financial crisis, recruited as the first non-British citizen to run the Bank of England during Brexit and called to serve as the United Nations envoy on climate action and finance. Carney, who has never faced voters for elected office before, has come up short in comparison to Poilievre in terms of charisma and public debate, Bernard said. But that appears to be a secondary concern compared to his background in international economic relations. Prominent Canadian conservatives, including Jordan Peterson, have criticized Carney for his technocratic approach and his priority of creating global initiatives to counter climate change. Poilievre has tried to characterize Carney as the continuation of a failed status quo, emphasizing his own brand as a change-maker even as he has attempted to distance himself from Trump and his populist style. Meanwhile, Trump has signaled he is not worried about the result of the Canadian election or his influence on it. In March, he said on Fox News that he thought it would be 'easier' to negotiate with Carney in office than Poilievre. Ultimately, the outcome of the election won't come down to Trump, though; it will come down to Quebec, according to Hampson. Support for the separatist French Canadian party, Bloc Québécois, and the progressive New Democratic Party, have both 'collapsed' in Quebec, Hampson said. Despite their history of trying to seek independence, Quebec voters — many of whom speak French as a first language — appear poised to support the Liberal nominee because 'Quebecers realize that they're better off in Canada than they would be as an island in the United States,' Hampson said. A recent poll found that since December the share of Quebec voters who say they are proud to be Canadian has increased 13 percentage points from 45% to 58%. Earlier this month, Montreal native Yanick Blouin told the Deseret News at a hockey game between the Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings that he had never seen so much patriotism among fellow Canadians. 'I feel stronger as a Canadian,' Blouin said. 'The French wanted to separate from the rest of Canada for a long time, and now we see a strong union is growing in Canada, which is good for us.'
Boston Globe
27-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
The view from Canada: US threat to our sovereignty is no joke
The relationship went deeper than politics or money, too: Many Canadians and Americans have family across the border, and many more work, travel, and sometimes live in the other country. So for Canadians, the second Trump administration has been a bit like waking up to find your big brother, on a meth binge, standing at the door in the middle of the night with a knife, asking for money. The first feeling is terror, followed closely by disgust, attached to a residual sadness. Americans never look closely outside their own borders, so it may come as a surprise to many that Canada is on a war footing. As far as I can tell from my American friends, they continue to think of their country's threat to our sovereignty as a joke. It is not. Trump's fetish for Canada has developed quickly but consistently. The tariff war is one thing — malignant, stupid, and self-defeating. The calls for annexation are quite another matter. Advertisement 'The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,' the US president For us, the threat is as serious as a heart attack. It is impossible to overstate how much Trump has upended Canadian political life in the past two months. The Liberals, down as much as 25 points in polls last year, have experienced the greatest political comeback in the history of the country. But the change is much deeper than electoral politics can convey. According to current polls, Advertisement I trust I don't have to explain to the citizens of Boston that any price is worth paying for liberty. I take it for granted that a city that is literally a byword for fiery independence does not need to have it explained that Canadians are going to refuse, forever, to be subjects of a foreign power. Quite beyond the threat of annexation, Canada has found itself no longer capable of maintaining its relationship with its neighbor. Canadians desperately want to be America's friend, but who can afford it anymore? To be America's enemy is much more stable and safe than to be its friend. America only respects its enemies — Russia, China, North Korea. If you're going to be America's ally today, you'd better get used to wiping the president's spit off your face. And if you fight on the side of America in any conflict, you can be quite sure that it will forget the moment after you've joined its side. The 60,000 Afghans that Advertisement The chances of America successfully annexing Canada are more or less zero. Somewhere around The Canadian government just Just to be clear: None of this is of Canada's choosing. We have been forced to confront America as an existential threat. Trump has made it impossible for us to be an ally. Discussing future military aircraft, Advertisement Canada was But at this point, the overt betrayal is entirely to be expected. Trump just tore up the Canada has traditionally thought of itself as a country of compromise, a country of 'why can't we all just get along?' Just like a kid brother, we all sincerely hope that America will survive the current meth jag without hitting too many more rock bottoms. But certain lines have been crossed and cannot be crossed back. Canada will exist, from now on, against the United States. It doesn't matter if the guy is your brother and you love him. Eventually, to survive, you just have to stop answering the door.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Breaking down Trump's threats to annex Canada
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term, he floated the idea of Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state. Since then, his assertion about a union between the two nations — perhaps through the pressure of tariffs — has intensified. Here's a breakdown of Trump's comments and insinuations on the topic: In a December 2024 meeting with Canada's then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump suggested that Canada become the 51st U.S. state and called Trudeau the "governor" of the "Great State of Canada," a comment the BBC deemed a "playful jab." Canadian Cabinet Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was at the meeting, said Trump "was teasing us," and it was "in no way a serious comment." However, following that December meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Trump continued to publicly advocate for Canada to join the U.S., responding to Trudeau's resignation on Jan. 6, 2025, by writing on Truth Social: "If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them." The next day, a reporter asked him during a news conference whether he was considering military force to annex and acquire Canada, to which Trump responded no, but he would use economic force to "get rid of that artificially drawn line." In the weeks following, Trump repeated these points numerous times, including at the World Economic Forum on Jan. 23, 2025, where he said Canada should become a 51st state so "we won't have to tariff you." Trudeau responded publicly on March 4, 2025, saying, "We will never be the 51st state." We reached out to Trump's and Trudeau's offices seeking comment and will update this story if we receive a response. As recently as March 11, 2025, Trump wrote on Truth Social that "the only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State" in a post about reciprocal tariffs between the two countries. The full post was as follows: As of this writing, Trump has not publicly suggested the use of military force to annex Canada. However, on March 7, 2025, The New York Times reported that four people, on condition of anonymity, shared details of two conversations Trudeau and Trump had on Feb. 3 in which Trump reportedly claimed he did not believe the border between the U.S. and Canada was valid and wanted to revise it. Snopes has not independently verified the details of these conversations. In the same story, the Times reported that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called LeBlanc, the Canadian Cabinet minister, after the Feb. 3 calls between Trump and Trudeau and claimed Trump wanted to eject Canada from the Five Eyes, a collaborative intelligence group that also includes the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The Times reported Lutnick said Trump was "reviewing" the military cooperation between the two countries and also wanted to discard the Great Lakes agreements and conventions, which dictate how the U.S. and Canada share and manage lakes Erie, Huron, Ontario and Superior. This claim spread to multiple outlets and social media sites; for example, one post on X (archived) received more than 8 million views as of this writing. Great Lakes Now, a news outlet supported by Detroit PBS, ran a headline that read: "Trump threatens Great Lakes agreements between U.S. and Canada." However, the story's claim relied on the Times' reporting, which we have not substantiated. Most recently, on March 13, 2025, Trump stated in a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, "To be honest with you, Canada only works as a state." In sum, Trump has been explicitly and increasingly vocal about his desire to annex Canada and make it the 51st state. He has not suggested the use of military force, but rather indicated he would use economic pressure through tariffs to "get rid of that artificially drawn line" between the U.S. and Canada. An anonymously sourced report by The New York Times claimed Trump expressed that he wanted to force Canada out of an intelligence-sharing agreement, review the U.S. and Canada's military cooperation and discard the agreements and conventions that guide management of the Great Lakes. 'Canadian Leaders Say Trump's Talk about Canada Becoming the 51st State Isn't Funny Anymore'. AP News, 8 Jan. 2025, Colley, Andy Takagi, Mark. 'Most Canadians Don't Want to Be the 51st U.S. State. Americans Are a Little More Open to the Idea, Polls Show'. Toronto Star, 16 Feb. 2025, Danner, Nia Prater, Chas. 'Not Just Tariffs: Trump's Wildest Threats Against Canada'. Intelligencer, 13 Mar. 2025, 'Donald Trump Tells Canada To Become A State To Avoid His Tariffs'. HuffPost UK, 24 Jan. 2025, FiscalNote, Roll Call. 'Roll Call - Press Conference: Donald Trump Holds a Media Event at Mar-a-Lago - January 7, 2025'. Roll Call Accessed 18 Mar. 2025. 'Opinion: Trump Isn't Joking about Wanting to Annex Canada'. 13 Mar. 2025, PerryCook, Taija. 'A Running List of Trump's Executive Orders'. Snopes, 5 Mar. 2025, 'Remarks By President Trump at the World Economic Forum'. The White House, 23 Jan. 2025, Rubin, Tonda MacCharles, Josh. 'The inside Story of a High-Stakes Call between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump as the Tariff Deadline Loomed'. Toronto Star, 20 Feb. 2025, Stevis-Gridneff, Matina. 'How Trump's "51st State" Canada Talk Came to Be Seen as Deadly Serious'. The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2025, Tasker, John Paul. 'Trump's Quip about Canada Becoming 51st State Was a Joke, Says Minister Who Was There'. CBC News, 3 Dec. 2024. 'The Inaugural Address'. The White House, 20 Jan. 2025, 'Trudeau Told Trump Americans Would Also Suffer If Tariffs Are Imposed, a Canadian Minister Says'. AP News, 2 Dec. 2024, 'Trump's Call to Annex Canada as a State Should Have Invoked the 25th Amendment'. Esquire, 17 Mar. 2025, 'Trump Expresses Desire to Expand U.S. Territory, Use Economic Force to Pressure Canada'. PBS News, 7 Jan. 2025, Trump Takes Jab at 'governor' Trudeau. 10 Dec. 2024, Wilson, Gary, Great Lakes Now. 'Trump Threatens Great Lakes Agreements between U.S. and Canada'. Great Lakes Now, 12 Mar. 2025, - YouTube. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025. - YouTube. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025. - YouTube. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wall Street falls in a manic day after briefly dropping more than 10% below its record
NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market fell further Tuesday following President Donald Trump's latest escalation in his trade war, briefly pulling Wall Street 10% below its record set last month. And like it's been for most of the past few weeks, the market's slide on Tuesday was erratic and dizzying. The S&P 500 fell 0.8%, but only after careening between a modest gain and a tumble of 1.5%. The main measure of Wall Street's health finished 9.3% below its all-time high after flirting with the 10% threshold that professional investors call a 'correction." Other indexes likewise swung sharply through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 478 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite ended up slipping 0.2%. Such head-spinning moves are becoming routine in what's been a scary ride for investors as Trump tries to remake the country and world through tariffs and other policies. Stocks have been heaving mostly lower on uncertainty about how much pain Trump is willing for the economy to endure in order to get what he wants. And moves by Trump and comments by his White House on Tuesday didn't clarify much. Stocks began tumbling in the morning after Trump said he would double planned tariff increases on steel and aluminum coming from Canada. The president said it was a response to moves a Canadian province made after Trump began threatening tariffs on one of the United States' most important trading partners. Trump has acknowledged the economy could feel some 'disturbance' because of the tariffs he's pushing. Asked on Tuesday just how much pain Trump would be willing for the economy and stock market to take, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to give an exact answer. But she said earlier in the press briefing that 'the president will look out for Wall Street and for Main Street.' For his part, Trump said earlier on social media, 'The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State. This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear.' Stocks pared their losses later in the day, even briefly eliminating them altogether, after Ontario's premier said he had agreed to remove the surcharge on electricity that had enraged Trump so much. Trump would afterward say that he would 'probably' return the steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada to 25%. After that brief perk higher, though, stocks would go on to slide again into the end of trading. Tuesday's swings followed more warning signals flashing about the economy as Trump's on -and- off -again rollout of tariffs creates confusion and pessimism for U.S. households and businesses. Such tariffs can hurt the economy directly by raising prices for U.S. consumers and gumming up global trade. But even if they end up being milder than feared, all the whipsaw moves could create so much uncertainty that U.S. companies and consumers freeze, which would sap energy from the economy. Delta Air Lines' stock lost 7.3% after it said it's already seeing a change in confidence among customers, which is affecting demand for close-in bookings for its flights. That pushed the airline to roughly halve its forecast for revenue growth in the first three months of 2025, down to a range of 3% to 4% from a range of 7% to 9%. Southwest Airlines also cut its forecast for an important underlying revenue trend, and it pointed specifically to less government travel, among other reasons, including wildfires in California and 'softness in bookings and demand trends as the macro environment has weakened.' Its stock nevertheless rallied 8.3% after the airline said it would soon begin charging some passengers to check bags, among other announcements. Oracle dropped 3.1% after the technology giant reported profit and revenue for the latest quarter that fell short of analysts' expectations. Helping to keep the market in check were several Big Tech stocks, which steadied a bit after getting walloped in recent months. Elon Musk's Tesla rose 3.8%, for example, after Trump said he would buy a Tesla in a show of support for 'Elon's 'baby.'' Tesla's sales and brand have been under pressure as Musk has led efforts in Washington to cut spending by the federal government. Tesla's stock is down 42.9% for the young year so far. Other Big Tech superstars, which had led the market to record after record in recent years, also held a bit firmer. Nvidia added 1.7% to trim its loss for the year so far to 19%. It's struggled as the market's sell-off has particularly hit stocks seen as getting too expensive in Wall Street's frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology. Because Nvidia, Tesla and other Big Tech stocks have grown so massive in size, their movements carry much more weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes than any other company. All told, the S&P 500 fell 42.49 points to 5,572.07. The Dow dropped 478.23 to 41,433.48, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 32.23 to 17,436.10. In stock markets abroad, which have mostly been beating the United States so far this year, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Stocks rose 0.4% in Shanghai and were nearly unchanged in Hong Kong as China's annual national congress wrapped up its annual session with some measures to help boost the slowing economy. In the bond market, Treasury yields clawed back some of their tumbles in recent months. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.28% from 4.22% late Monday. In January, it was nearing 4.80%, before it began sinking on worries about the U.S. economy. A report released Tuesday morning showed U.S. employers were advertising 7.7 million job openings at the end of January, just as economists expected. It's the latest signal that the U.S. job market remains relatively solid overall, for now at least, after the economy closed last year running at a healthy pace. ___ AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed.
