Canada is concerned and takes Trump’s statements about the “51st state” seriously – NYT

Constant mentions of Canada as the 51st state and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the governor have begun to cause dissatisfaction both in the Canadian government and in society at large. Although all of Donald Trump’s statements may have been made to pressure Canada into making concessions on trade or border security issues, the Canadian side does not believe this is the case. This is stated in a piece by The New York Times, reports UNN.

Details

The realization that the Trump administration is scrutinizing relations with Canada more closely and aggressively, and that this is related to threats of annexation, emerged during conversations between senior officials from Canada and the United States.

For instance, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc on February 3 that Trump believes that relations between the U.S. and Canada are governed by numerous agreements and treaties that can be easily discarded, and that he is interested in this.

Moreover, the U.S. president, according to Lutnick, wants to exclude Canada from the intelligence-sharing group known as “Five Eyes,” which also includes the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Additionally, Trump allegedly wants to terminate agreements and conventions regarding the Great Lakes between the two countries and is reviewing military cooperation.

The only thing that calmed nerves, writes NYT, was the words of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who refrained from threats and dismissed the idea that the U.S. is considering reducing military cooperation.

But Canadian politicians across the spectrum and Canadian society as a whole are tired and deeply concerned. Officials do not consider the Trump administration’s threats to be empty.

Recall

Earlier, Lutnick said that Trump is likely to exempt Canadian and Mexican goods and services from tariffs that comply with the “U.S. – Mexico – Canada” (USMCA) agreement, negotiations regarding the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), concluded during his first term. But the exemption will last only one month.

Trudeau believes that the U.S. has started a trade war against Canada, while at the same time they talk about positive work with Russia.