New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney shut down President Trump’s talk of Canada potentially becoming the U.S.’s 51st state, characterizing it as “crazy” and vowing the North American neighbor will remain independent.
Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor who was sworn in as Canada’s leader on Friday, succeeding his predecessor Justin Trudeau, said Canada and the U.S. are “fundamentally different” nations and that Ottawa “expects respect from America and Trump.”
“We will never in any way, shape or form be a part of the U.S. America is not Canada,” Carney said.
“His point is crazy, that’s it,” the new prime minister added.
Trump has previously said Canadians would be better off if their country joined the U.S. and repeatedly mocked Trudeau as a “governor” before his tenure ended.
Top U.S. diplomat Marco Rubio was pressed by Canadian journalists at a Group of Seven meeting over Trump’s talk of Canada becoming the 51st state and the tariffs Washington has implemented on a variety of products.
“The Canadian government has made their position clear. The president has made his argument clear as to why he thinks Canada would be better off joining as a state for economic purposes,” Rubio said on Friday.
“There is a disagreement between the two. That was not a topic of conversation, because that’s not what this summit was about,” the secretary of state added.
The relationship between Washington and Ottawa has been rocky as the trade war between the two neighboring countries has intensified.
Canada retaliated against the levies Trump imposed this week on aluminum and steel, implementing its own 25 percent tariffs on all aluminum and steel imports. Canada also imposed a tariff on $30 billion worth of goods coming from the U.S.
Rubio said Friday the U.S. president wants to “reset the baseline” with the levies on Canada, a topic he touched on during his meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly.
“This is not meant as a hostile move. This is about balancing and fairness and trade,” he said. “Once the baseline is set, then you can have negotiations with individual countries about trade. This is meant to be friendly and of our national interest.”
