A growing trade dispute between the United States and Canada has sparked a fierce response from Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly, as President Trump continues to push aggressive trade policies.
Trump has pushed hard on tariffs and repeatedly called for Canada to become the “51st state”. Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
The backlash comes after Trump imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian imports — a move that originally threatened to reach 50% before being slightly rolled back.
His administration has also targeted Mexico, China, and even the European Union, with plans for a 200% tariff on EU alcohol.
“If the US Can Do This to Us, Nobody Is Safe”
Joly – speaking in Ottawa at a G7 Meeting with fellow Foreign Ministers – did not hold back.
“If the US can do this to us, their closest friend, then nobody is safe,” she declared, according to Politico.
She criticized Trump’s justification for the tariff hikes, calling them “exaggerated” and “unjustifiable.”
Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly. Credit: Andrej Ivanov/Getty Images
“We have done nothing to justify Trump’s attacks on our country, on our economy and our identity,” Joly said. “Canada is your best friend, best neighbour and best ally.”
She went on to call out the reasoning behind the tariffs: “The excuse for the first round was exaggerated claims about our border. We addressed all the concerns raised by the US.
“The latest excuse is national security despite the fact that Canada’s steel and aluminum adds to America’s security.”
Trump’s Push for Annexation Adds Fuel to the Fire
The trade war tensions have been further escalated by Trump’s controversial remarks about annexing Canada, an idea he first floated last month.
During a White House meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump doubled down on the idea, saying: “The United States can’t subsidize a country for $200 billion a year.”
He also claimed that Canada “only works as a state” and insisted that the US. doesn’t “need anything” that Canada provides — despite the fact that Canada runs a trade deficit with the US, not a surplus.
Trump argued that the US-Canada border is nothing more than an “artificial line” that “makes no sense.”
“It would be one of the great states anywhere,” he said, per Huffpost. “This would be the most incredible country visually. If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it between Canada and the US just a straight artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many, many decades ago. And it makes no sense.”
Despite the bizarre proposal, Trump praised Canada’s national anthem, saying: “Keeping ‘Oh, Canada,’ the national anthem, I love it. I think it’s great. Keep it. But it’ll be for the state.”
Canadian Leaders Reject “51st State” Talk
While US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to downplay Trump’s annexation comments, suggesting he meant them “economically”, Joly fired back.
“Yesterday, he called our border a fictional line and repeated his disrespectful 51st state rhetoric,” she said. “Well, Canadians have made it very clear that we will not back down, and we will not give in to this coercion.”
Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has previously stated that Trump is serious about the idea, though some US officials have dismissed it as a joke.
Trudeau says Trump isn’t joking about wanting to annex Canada. Credit: Sedat Suna / Getty
“What [Trump] wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” Trudeau said, per NBC News.
Joly refuses to take Trump’s comments as a joke, telling BBC’s Newsnight: “This is not a joke anymore.
“There’s a reason why Canadians, when they go out on a hockey game, are booing the American national anthem… We’re insulted. We’re mad. We’re angry.”
As tensions mount, UK trade chief William Bain has advised Britain to “keep calm and carry on exporting”, while other world leaders are bracing for potential economic instability caused by Trump’s trade war strategy.
Joly, however, is taking a firm stand, ensuring that Canada will fight back against economic pressure and threats to its sovereignty.
