President Donald Trump during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington The first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House have been dominated by talks of Executive Orders, tariffs, foreign relations and economic stability in light of the trade war sparked by the tariffs, comments about annexing Canada, the possibility of seeking a third term Such topics were discussed in Trump’s April 22 interview in TIME, and it was of little surprise that the subject matters came up again when Trump sat down for an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach Here are some of the key topics Trump spoke out about in his televised interview In recent months, Trump has made a number of comments highlighting his desire to annex Canada and make it the 51st state. In a post shared on Truth Social on March 11, when addressing the concerns Canada raised regarding tariffs, Trump said: “The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney, whose Liberal Party won the Canadian election on April 28, has—much like his predecessor Justin Trudeau—made it clear that Canada has no intention of taking Trump up on his offer. “It will never happen,” he said Trump said he had congratulated Carney on his election win but doubled down on his desire to make Canada the 51st state saying he will “always talk about that.” Trump repeated his previous sentiments referring once more to Canada’s former Prime Minister as “Governor Trudeau.”He emphasized what he believes are unfair trade practices with the country claiming that Canada needs the United States “If Canada was a state it wouldn't cost us It would be such a great—it would be a cherished state When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago… You don't even realize What a beautiful country it would be,” he said They do all of their business practically with us Trump added that it would be “highly unlikely” for him to use military force on Canada as much as he would like to see the country implemented as a state Read More: Secretary of State Marco Rubio Speaks Out on Trump’s Plans to Annex the Country Trump echoed his previous comments regarding whether or not the fallout of his so-called “reciprocal tariffs,” which led to market volatility after their announcement in early April When asked if it's "okay to have a recession in the short-term," Trump said: "Yeah The President was asked if he's worried about concerns raised by Wall Street, that the possibility of a recession is increasing. At the end of April, the Commerce Department reported that the U.S. economy shrank in early 2025 Trump once again focused on the long-term positive effects he is hoping for rather than any concerns regarding the current economy “But I think we're going to have the greatest economy in the history of our country I think we're going to have the greatest economic boom in history.” He also insisted that many economic issues were left over from President Joe Biden's era “I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job,” he said Read More: Exclusive: Inside Trump’s First 100 Days Trump was questioned about his recent back-and-forth with the Supreme Court, after it ordered the federal government to “facilitate” Kilmar Ábrego García's return to the United States The Maryland man was deported to El Salvador by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in March in what was initially called an administrative error in 2019 a judge granted him "withholding of removal" status after determining that his fears of persecution if he were returned to El Salvador were credible the Trump Administration has so far declined to "facilitate" Ábrego García's return “I have the power to ask for him to come back if I'm instructed by the Attorney General that it's legal to do so,” Trump said “But the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador When asked if he believes that every person in the U.S. deserves due process—regardless of their legal status—Trump said “I don’t know. I'm not a lawyer.” After Welker pointed to the Fifth Amendment, which states that “no person” shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law,” Trump responded once more. “I don’t know. It seems—it might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or two million or three million trials,” the President said. “We have thousands of people that are—some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth.” When asked if he needs to uphold the Constitution as the U.S. President, Trump said: "I don't know. I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. They have a different interpretation." TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website Offers may be subject to change without notice WorldNewsTrump says ‘highly unlikely’ U.S. ever uses military force to annex CanadaBy The Canadian PressUpdated: May 05, 2025 at 6:15AM EDT Twitter feed ©2025 BellMedia All Rights Reserved says she wants to cooperate with Trump on Arctic security The Danish prime minister has put on a show of unity with Greenlandic leaders in her first visit to the Arctic island since Donald Trump’s renewed threats to acquire the territory telling the US: “You cannot annex another country.” Speaking onboard an inspection ship in front of a military helicopter, alongside Greenland’s new prime minister, Jens-Frederik Nielsen Mette Frederiksen switched from Danish to English to address the diplomatic standoff with the Trump administration “This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations,” she said “You cannot annex another country – not even with an argument about international security.” (From left) Mette Frederiksen Múte B Egede and Jens-Frederik Nielsen onboard the Danish navy inspection ship Vaedderen on 3 April Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPAHer words came after a six-hour boat trip on the ocean-patrol vessel HDMS Vædderen with the two Greenlandic leaders during which they also viewed the area from above in a helicopter “If you want to strengthen security in the Arctic Denmark and Greenland “want to cooperate with the United States”, she said. “If you want to be more present in Greenland, Greenland and Denmark are ready If you want to strengthen security in the Arctic Accusing the US of subjecting Denmark and Greenland to “pressure and threats” she said: “What should we believe about the country we have admired for many years?” Mette Frederiksen talks with the newly elected head of government Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/ReutersNielsen said: “Dialogue is of course the way forward but it is also a great uncertainty that there is no dialogue now That is why it is important to have dialogue that is based on respect.” Greenland’s prime minister said: “Because of the things happening outside the country but also in our relationship with our allies.” Egede said Greenland wanted to cooperate with the US on trade had reaffirmed the “strong relationship” between the US and Denmark during a meeting with Lars Løkke Rasmussen Rasmussen said that he had “used this opportunity to state some things on behalf of the Danish kingdom” that these repeated statements from the US president with a vision or ambition to control Greenland are in no way sustainable It has reached a point where it actually challenges our sovereignty as a kingdom.” In contrast to last week’s Greenland visit by the US vice-president, JD Vance – which was limited to the US military base Pituffik and did not involve Greenlandic or Danish representatives – Frederiksen was greeted at the airport by Egede and went straight to the capital Frederiksen’s visit had initially been criticised by members of the governing coalition because the new government has not yet been officially approved Nielsen said: “Denmark is our closest partner and it is natural we meet as soon as possible.” The last time Frederiksen was in Greenland was in March 2024 on a joint visit with the president of the European Commission Free weekly newsletterThe most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment Mette Frederiksen walks with Greenland’s outgoing prime minister Photograph: Mads Claus Rasmussen/EPAAs a former Danish colony Greenland remains in the kingdom of Denmark which continues to control the territory’s foreign and security policies Greenland’s long-running independence movement has been gaining momentum in recent months – momentum the Trump administration appears to be hoping to capitalise on – particularly after claims of alleged mistreatment of Greenlanders by the Danish state But the threat of US intervention appears to have slowed down appetite in Greenland for a rapid move towards independence A general election last month resulted in the most US- and Trump-friendly party leaving coalition talks signed a coalition agreement hours before Vance touched down in Greenland last Friday Page one of the agreement stated: “Greenland belongs to us.” Frederiksen’s visit takes place amid reports from the US that the White House is preparing an estimate of what it would cost the government to control Greenland as a territory According to the Washington Post the White House budget office is assessing the cost of running Greenland and working out an estimate of how much revenue could be earned from its natural resources Among the options on the table is to offer Greenland a higher figure in subsidies Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Print Insights According to Donald Trump and J.D Greenland and Canada have everything to gain and nothing to lose from being annexed to the United States “Denmark hasn’t done a good job at keeping Greenland safe,” Vance said at America’s Pituffik Space Base in Greenland last week hasn’t kept Greenland “safe from a lot of very aggressive incursions from Russia Trump talks as though Canada’s becoming the 51st state would be an economic win-win for both countries We do not have uninsured or underinsured residents We do not have different qualities of insurance depending on a person’s employment....All Canadians have health insurance and need rather than wealth is what drives access to care it’s proper to note that the influence exerted by annexed lands is a two-way street should annex — needs to annex — both Greenland and Canada The principal gain for Americans from making both countries part of the U.S they’re better than America’s in many respects provide greater benefits and have more support from political leaders across the partisan spectrum Let’s take a closer look at what Americans can learn from its putative new territories Acting Commissioner Leland Dudek leaves Social Security beneficiaries worried about their checks There are several notable differences between the American and Canadian safety nets. One is a child benefit. Canada provides parents as much as $7,787 Canadian (about $5,438 in U.S currency) per child for children through age 5 and $6,570 Canadian (about $4,600) for children ages 6-17 The benefit phases out for those with incomes over $67,000 (about $47,000) child tax credit is currently $2,000 a year per child and is scheduled to drop to $1,000 in 2026 It phases out for couples earning $400,000 Perhaps the most significant difference concerns the countries’ government healthcare programs with the government paying for most necessary care; households can buy private plans to cover services that aren’t part of the government system such as vision and dental services and outpatient prescriptions But all Canadians are covered by the government program American politicians have tied themselves into knots trying to find negative things to say about Canada’s universal single-payer healthcare system A sterling example was provided by then-U.S. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who during a 2014 Senate hearing grilled Danielle Martin about the supposed shortcomings of the Canadian system Burr homed in on Canadians’ most common complaint about their system: the long waits for some services largely resulting from a shortage of primary care doctors how many Canadian patients on a waiting list die each year with a smirk suggesting he had just unshipped a “gotcha.” Martin batted it right back: “I don’t but I do know that there are 45,000 in America who die waiting because they don’t have insurance at all.” Trump promised to leave Social Security alone but his actions speak louder than his words As Martin had said in her prepared statement: “We do not have uninsured or underinsured residents We do not have different qualities of insurance depending on a person’s employment... At substantially lower cost than in the U.S. all Canadians have health insurance and need rather than wealth is what drives access to care.” The Canadian government pays for reproductive healthcare, including abortions. There are no gestational age restrictions although most abortions are performed during the first trimester and those after 23 weeks require specialized care There are no criminal penalties for performing abortions Those are obvious differences from the American experience Since the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe vs individual states have imposed their own restrictions on abortion sometimes by outlawing the procedure outright and even exposing those who perform abortions to criminal charges The consequences for maternal health in the U.S. have been horrific. In Canada, according to 2023 statistics, the maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births was 12.22 More worrying was a trend seen in Texas, among the states with a strict ban on abortions, where maternal mortality rose sharply to 28.5 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2022 The social safety net in Greenland is a bit harder to analyze For the most part Greenlanders enjoy the benefits of Danish policies Greenland’s social environment is also different from Denmark’s — its Indigenous population is larger as a proportion of the population and residents are concentrated in the giant island’s southwest The island has a population of about 60,000 Border Patrol ran rampant through Bakersfield in what immigration advocates say was nothing but racial profiling aimed at intimidation Denmark’s social policies are among the most socially liberal in the world. According to a government website tax-funded benefits for Danish citizens include paid parental leave that can total almost a full year a universal single-payer healthcare program with no copays except for prescriptions; dental care is typically provided by private plans Denmark doesn’t have a minimum wage law, but collective bargaining agreements have resulted in a standard minimum of about $15.57 (U.S.) an hour — more than in most jurisdictions in the U.S. where the mandated federal minimum is $7.25 an hour Denmark recently liberalized its abortion law raising the right to obtain abortion upon request to up to 18 weeks of pregnancy from 12 weeks Girls ages 15 or over don’t need parental consent The maternal mortality rate in Denmark is about 5 per 100,000 live births but may be higher in Greenland where medical care is less accessible in remote communities Once all these factors are considered, another question arises: Why stop with Canada and Greenland? There are other countries that have managed to score higher than the U.S. in terms of the happiness of their populace. The list has been led for years by Finland, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, among others. On this roster, the U.S. ranked a dismal 24th in 2024, behind Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and, indeed, Canada. Think of it this way. Going only by which countries might teach us how to make our people happier, if we could only make them part of the U.S. — the number of candidates for annexation comes to 23, not just two. Trump and Vance need to get down to work. Insights does not appear on any news articles The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content. Business Hollywood Inc. Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits nearby President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on April 14 On the eve of Canadians gearing up to vote in a federal election Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed President Donald Trump’s previous comments about making Canada the “51st state.” During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday host Kristen Welker questioned Rubio on whether or not the State Department has “taken any steps to carry out” Trump’s plans “as he has said Rubio responded with: “I think the President has stated repeatedly he thinks Canada would be better off as a state.” Rubio’s comments come after a back-and-forth between Canada’s former Prime Minister Trudeau and Trump about how Canada should deal with the pressures felt by Trump’s tariffs. Canada has also countered with a 25% tariff on goods imported from the U.S Read More: These Are the U.S. Cities Most Vulnerable to Canadian Tariffs, a New Report Finds Trump has repeatedly said both on social media and to reporters that Canada could become the 51st state of the U.S. When asked in the Oval Office by reporters in February if there was anything Trudeau could “give” to Trump amid ongoing tariff discussions “What I’d like to see; Canada become our 51st state,” Trump said it would be 100% certain that it would become a state.” Canada's current Prime Minister Mark Carney has also spoken out on Trump's persistent comments about annexing Canada. He said Trump raised the matter during a phone call in March. Speaking at a campaign press conference, Carney said: "To be clear as I've said to anyone who's raised this issue in private or in public Read More: Trump Publicly Calls Out Putin After Meeting With Zelensky at Pope Francis’ Funeral In an April 22 interview with TIME Trump doubled down on his previous statements and said he was “really not trolling” about making Canada the 51st state arguing that America doesn’t “need anything from Canada.” We're taking care of every aspect of their lives and we don't need them to make cars for us We don't need anything from Canada,” Trump said “And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state.” Read More: Fact-Checking What Donald Trump Said in His ‘100 Days’ Interview With TIME Trudeau—who announced his plans to step down in January as Canada’s Liberal Party leader—has previously told lawmakers and business leaders to take the threat of annexation seriously, with several outlets reporting that at a Canada-U.S Trudeau suggested that Trump wants access to Canada’s critical minerals “Mr Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing," he said “They're going to have a new leader. We'll deal with a new leadership in Canada,” Rubio said. “There are many things to work cooperatively with Canada on, but we actually don't like the way they treated us when it comes to trade, and the President has made that point when he responded to the previous Prime Minister.” The president isn’t backing down on his desire to annex the autonomous Danish territory One of the underrated accomplishments of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential run was that he criticized fellow Republicans for their foreign policy mistakes and lived to tell the tale Ron Paul (R–Texas) ran for president in 2008 and 2012 he was booed repeatedly for criticizing the Iraq War and other neoconservative foreign policy positions and he eventually faded from the race In 2016, by contrast, Trump repeatedly slammed the George W. Bush administration for the Iraq War, calling it "a big, fat mistake" and declaring that "we should have never been in Iraq." Trump also received some boos but nevertheless won the nomination even as he blasted U.S even New York Times columnists were famously proclaiming that Trump could be a more dovish president than Hillary Clinton But in the first 100 days of Trump's second term—when not roiling the global economy with tariffs—he has talked an awful lot about absorbing more territory regardless of how the occupants of that territory feel about it the president pledged that the United States would be a country that "expands our territory." Some of Trump's defenders tried to explain away that clause as a reference to space exploration but that excuse has become less and less plausible None of this sounds particularly dovish or helpful in averting World War III Some of Trump's more batshit suggestions—like sending the U.S military to occupy Gaza—might be written off as pipe dreams His repeated emphasis on territorial expansion The president's previous statements and first-term record help explain his obsession with expanding America's borders zero-sum view of world politics and the global economy Trump believes that peace among the great powers can be achieved through spheres of influence This means conceding parts of the globe to Russia and China—while expanding U.S changing territorial boundaries transgresses all sorts of international norms—and Trump loves transgressing Trump wants to emulate the leaders he admires Putin and Xi are also into expanding their territorial control But the modern world operates differently from how Trump thinks it works What might have worked in the 18th century is obsolete in the 21st In trying to manifest his vision board of an expansionist United States Trump is undermining key strategic pillars that have bolstered the free world for decades If Trump achieves any of his desired territorial gains But it will also be poorer and radically more insecure While he's talked a lot about territorial expansion since winning in 2024 it was not a prominent part of his campaign rhetoric He bobs and weaves so much in his public statements that sometimes it seems the only certainty is that Trump likes uncertainty Reports that he proposed swapping Puerto Rico for Greenland were dismissed as either absurd or naive Can his more recent musings also be discounted as a madman gambit He did give hints about his interest in territorial expansion and resource extraction prior to his second inauguration he talked about the alleged need to "take the oil" from Iraq arguing that we would be "reimbursing ourselves" for the trillions of dollars spent on the Iraq War Trump's comfort level with redrawing sovereign borders was higher than that of any other postwar president His administration recognized Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights To secure Morocco's participation in the Abraham Accords his administration recognized that country's annexation of Western Sahara the United States remains the only country to recognize both annexations and potentially very dangerous." In his first joint address to Congress The same dynamic has played out with Canada Almost immediately after Trump won his second term he talked about Canada becoming the 51st state and derisively referred to then–Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "Governor." Canadian officials including Trudeau at first nervously laughed off Trump's rhetoric That changed after Trump was sworn in and started threatening tariffs, following through on his pledge to use "economic force" to pressure Canada into an Anschluss with the United States. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has repeatedly suggested that the only way for Canada to avoid tariffs is to become the 51st state. According to The New York Times Trump told Trudeau in February that he did not accept the 1908 treaty demarcating the border between the two countries and wanted to revise it including how lakes and rivers between the two nations would be governed Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick explained to the Canadian finance minister that Trump was interested in exiting the raft of agreements that governed the bilateral relationship. By March, during his last week in office, Trudeau told the Canadian press that Trump is threatening tariffs because "what he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that'll make it easier to annex us." Maybe Trump is bluffing when he threatens to annex portions of Panama But the leadership of all three longstanding U.S It also jibes with behind-the-scenes reporting of Trump wanting a painting of James Polk—president during the largest expansion of U.S territory in American history—hanging in the Oval Office Trump has told visitors that Polk "got a lot of land." is Trump so eager to expand America's territory Back in January 2016, The Brookings Institution's Thomas Wright authored in Politico one of the earliest and most accurate assessments of how Trump thinks about international relations contrary to most foreign policy observers at the time that Trump "has a remarkably coherent and consistent worldview" with three tenets Trump is deeply skeptical of the liberal international order that embraced globalization and the network of U.S He believes trade deficits are a sign of economic weakness allies have cheated the United States out of billions of dollars by running trade surpluses and not paying enough for their own defense Trump's sympathies are with foreign strongmen who he believes are tough and firm and get what they want in world politics is "a worldview that makes a great leap backward in history embracing antiquated notions of power that haven't been prevalent since prior to World War II." The whole point of international trade is that it can generate win-win outcomes where both sides benefit Trump embodies the contrary doctrine that predated Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations: mercantilism Mercantilists believed that prosperity requires trade surpluses—selling more across national borders than you buy—which in turn would allegedly augment the power of the state Mercantilists of the preindustrial era insisted states that ran trade surpluses would be able to afford the large standing armies that were the norm in a violent 17th century made this point repeatedly: "Foreign trade produces riches Trump's 2017 inaugural declaration that "protection will lead to great prosperity and strength" fits with that antiquated vision if one believes trade is a zero-sum competition and the world an unsafe place The global distribution of territory is undeniably a zero-sum game; the more one acquires the less territory is available for any competitor Mercantilists believe in free trade within one's sovereign territory After threatening tariffs on Canada this past March, for example, Trump posted on social media that the "only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State totally disappear." Expanding territory creates a larger internal market which both mercantilists and classical economists agree leads to a more productive national economy Mercantilists like Trump will always prefer territorial expansion to more international trade believing expansion is the path to power and plenty The geopolitical benefits of territorial expansion are tied into Trump's desire to forge a great-power peace with China and Russia and to judge from his rhetoric he views Russia and China as the only other states that truly matter in world politics This can be seen most clearly in how Trump has attempted to negotiate a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine The new administration has been very willing and eager to strong-arm Ukraine into a variety of territorial and tactical concessions Recall that during the now-infamous Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "You want me to say really terrible things about Putin and then say how we doing on the deal?'" Five minutes later Trump was saying terrible things about Zelenskyy to his face Throughout his first term and the first 100 days of his second term Trump has demonstrated flexibility with respect to how other great powers handle their periphery While members of his Cabinet protested China's authoritarian crackdowns during his first term Trump himself signaled to Xi that he would refrain from criticizing Xi's actions in Hong Kong and Xinjiang in the interest of securing a bilateral trade deal there is persistent speculation that second-term Trump is seeking a grand bargain with Beijing Trump also suggested during his first term that Crimea was historically part of Russia In 2025 Trump has reportedly proposed that the United States recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea and urge the United Nations to do the same in return for an end to the war in Ukraine How does this connect to Trump's own territorial ambitions All these statements are signs that Trump believes in great powers divvying up the world's assets my colleague at Tufts University's Fletcher School argued recently: "Today's geopolitical landscape particularly resembles the close of World War II and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin sought to divide Europe into spheres of influence….If Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping were to reach an informal consensus that power matters more than ideological differences they would be echoing Yalta by determining the sovereignty and future of nearby neighbors." Trump would be cutting a deal in which Russia and China could expand their own spheres of influence the United States would have free rein over the Western Hemisphere This would empower Trump to use America's military and economic power to redraw the map These actions would violate a welter of international treaties to which the United States is a signatory such legal impunity would be a bonus rather than a hindrance His political superpower has always been to violate norms and laws and then emerge unscathed If redrawing global borders helps to foster some kind of peaceful great power concert Trump could plausibly argue that his outside-the-box thinking helped to reduce global tensions while expanding America's size Putin's forcible acquisition of Crimea in 2014 caused his poll numbers in Russia to skyrocket despite the economic deprivations caused by the ensuing war and redrawing the map is a world-historical act that burnishes a leader's historical legacy According to a Wall Street Journal report: "Trump remains serious about growing the country during his time in the White House five people who have spoken to him say." If Trump could succeed in expanding U.S perhaps current citizens and future historians will look kindly upon him as well and the United States can shift norms about territorial borders back to the Age of Empires But the idea any of this will benefit the United States is nuts In 1917 the United States purchased the U.S Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million—the most expensive purchase of territory per square mile in American history It has been more than a century since the United States annexed any territory in the Western Hemisphere the overarching global trend since the end of World War I has been for states to shed territory rather than add it the disintegration of empires and subsequent waves of decolonization have pushed that number close to 200 The fundamental driver for this increase is the secular surge in nationalism Countries and people that have any history of independence or autonomy usually do not like to relinquish it It is therefore not surprising that Trump's rhetoric about buying Greenland and absorbing Canada have not gone over well with the local populations In mid-March Greenland held elections—and Qulleq failed to garner enough votes for a seat in the parliament All the major parties in Greenland categorically rejected annexation by the United States When Vance visited Greenland in late March his initial plan to speak to supportive locals was scrubbed—because there were no local supporters military could easily control the island if push came to shove But unless Trump was prepared to use force against the 56,000 native residents such an effort would prove extremely messy and changing their mind about the upcoming election Poilievre had categorically rejected the idea of joining the United States but his stylistic similarities to Trump hurt his standing the Liberals surged ahead in national polls for the first time in three years ahead of the April 28 election the United States likely has the military might to shift the border Whether Trump is prepared to invest in the necessary coercive apparatus to crack down on restive Canadians is another matter Even if Trump doesn't care that residents of potential annexed areas aren't happy with the idea neither the economic nor the security logic for expanded territorial control makes sense Trump clearly believes that Russia is a great power but the only dimension on which that is true is in its possession of nuclear weapons Even though Russia is far and away the largest country in terms of geographic size its share of global economic output peaked at 3 percent during this century and has been on the decline for years why would the United States need to own Greenland The island is already extremely open to foreign direct investment so it's not like sovereign control is an economic necessity and—prior to the president's annexation threats—Denmark had signaled a willingness to allow an even greater U.S Beyond the perceived prestige of expanding U.S goals between Greenland being an independent republic or a part of the United States is negligible Trump administration officials claim they need Greenland to ward off encroachment by Russia and China But this just highlights another problem with Trump's logic: the hard limits of a sphere-of-influence approach to the world Neither Europe nor the Middle East nor the entire continent of Africa have a "natural" hegemon The reason Russia is interested in Greenland is that Moscow believes the Arctic is part of its sphere of influence; China similarly likes to talk about the Arctic as part of its Polar Silk Road In those regions one can envision Trump's great powers gamesmanship leading not toward global stability between three regional hegemons but rather to a new "Great Game" with all of the geopolitical tensions that come with it while it is easy to suggest that the United States can trade American hegemony in the Western Hemisphere for Chinese hegemony in the Pacific Rim quite a few other countries would have a problem with that entente allies such as Japan and South Korea will resist being viewed as a part of China's sphere of influence; so will newer partners a lot of Latin American countries will not want to abandon their trading relationship with China China is South America's top trading partner and the second-largest trading partner for all of Latin America China has signed trade agreements with Chile and Peru; 22 countries in the hemisphere are part of the Belt and Road Initiative One can debate the geopolitical merits of cozying up to China but a protectionist Trump administration is not going to persuade these countries to abandon the Chinese market willingly allies for an expanded United States is a horrible deal European and Pacific Rim allies are technologically sophisticated economies providing an important source of America's foreign direct investment The democratic regimes populating these regions have also proven to be extremely stable and durable Sacrificing them to a sphere-of-influence approach is like trading Luka Dončić for Anthony Davis Trump might think expanding America's territory will be the ultimate political win But annexing territory does not have the same benefits in the 21st century that it did in the 18th Stockpiling some rare earths might make sense as a security precaution but equating control of natural resources with power or plenty misreads an awful lot of recent economic history Based on the reactions to his recent rhetoric Expending blood and treasure to acquire territory that is already under the control of loyal allies seems like too high a price to pay Norman Angell explained in The Great Illusion that the gains from trade far outweigh the gains of plunder The horrific costs of the Great War proved a very costly confirmation of Angell's argument With Trump's lust for expanding America's borders becoming readily apparent we risk having to relearn this lesson the hard way Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Daniel W. Drezner is professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He publishes the Substack newsletter Drezner's World and is author of The Ideas Industry (Oxford University Press) Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_2" ).setAttribute( "value" You will also start receiving the Star's free morning newsletter President Donald Trump in the “Meet the Press” interview Sunday called Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney “a very nice man,” just days before the two leaders are to meet in-person Trump reveals in interview with NBC that he doesn't plan to use military action against Canada to make the country America's 51st state Trump reveals in interview with NBC that he doesn’t plan to use military action against Canada to make the country America’s 51st state President Donald Trump is not backing off threats to annex Canada saying it wouldn’t take military force to make the country America’s 51st state Trump’s comments came in an interview with Kristen Welker on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday where he said “I think we’re not going to ever get to that point” when asked if he would rule out military force to take Canada “I don’t see it with Canada,” Trump said While Trump says military action against Canada is “highly unlikely,” he said “something could happen with Greenland.”  Trump also spoke about his recent call with Prime Minister Mark Carney after he was elected last Monday describing the Canadian leader as “very nice” and congratulating him for his victory As Carney’s Liberal party secured a minority government Trump commented on the prime minister’s narrow win “There’s no majority or anything so that’s just going to make things a little bit difficult I think “But he nevertheless had a victory and he’s a very nice man.”  This comes days before Carney’s upcoming visit to the White House which will be the first in-person meeting for the two since Carney was sworn in as prime minister on March 14 the leaders are set to discuss Trump’s trade war with Canada and the talks could lay the groundwork for negotiations of a new trade and security pact with the U.S Trump said he will continue to talk about annexing Canada and will do so when meeting Carney is “subsidizing Canada” despite not requiring “anything Canada has.”  “It would be a cherished state,” he told Welker He later said about Canada: “They think we’re subsidizing … they think we’re going to protect them and really we are but the truth is they don’t carry their full share and it’s unfair to the United States and our taxpayers.”  Amid Trump’s persistent jabs at Canada, experts say the process of Canada becoming a U.S. state is near impossible.  A fundamental issue that exists is that Canada is a constitutional monarchy while the U.S “If you want to change from a monarchical to a republican system you must deal with the office of the King,” said Gregory Tardi formerly legal counsel to the House of Commons and Elections Canada “And that brings you straight into section 41 of the Canada Act of 1982.” in order to amend the Constitution and dissolve the union House of Commons and every single provincial legislature must unanimously agree with the proposal especially given how opposed most Canadians are to secession a professor of defence studies at the Canadian Forces College said it would “take months and it is not the priority of the United States government.”  citizens and non-citizens both deserve due process as laid out in the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution I don’t know,” Trump said when pressed by Welker The Fifth Amendment provides “due process of law,” meaning a person has certain rights when it comes to being prosecuted for a crime the 14th Amendment says no state can “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Although previously suggesting he is looking into running for a third term Trump told Welker “this is not something I’m looking to do.”  “I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Account processing issue - the email address may already exist Invalid password or account does not exist Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account WASHINGTON — In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press", President Donald Trump said he still wants to make Canada the 51st U.S state and does not envision the United States using military force to seize the neighboring country Asked if he would rule out military force to take Canada Trump told "Meet the Press" host Kristen Welker: "Well I think we’re not going to ever get to that point we need that for national and international security." "But I think it’s highly unlikely," Trump added as Welker chimed in to buttonhole him on Canada I have to be honest with you," he said with a laugh would never own the nation and told Canadians that Canada must look out for itself President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us Trump on annexation plan: 'What a beautiful country it would be'Carney says he will meet with Trump at the White House on May 6 Trump told NBC that Carney is a "nice man" and confirmed he would soon visit and I congratulated him," Trump said of his call with Carney after the election so that’s going to make things a little bit difficult Trump indicated he plans to bring up his proposed annexation of Canada during the meeting with Carney if you look at the geography — I’m a real estate guy at heart When I look down at that without that artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago — it was just an artificial line One way or another: Trump says U.S. will 'get Greenland,' military force may not be needed but not ruled out Underscoring his argument for Canada to volunteer and become a U.S Trump told NBC that the United States doesn't want or need anything the country produces We do very little business with Canada," Trump said "They do all of their business practically with us Canada is one of the United States' top two trading partners. The United States exported $349.4 billion in goods to Canada in 2024, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. U.S. goods imports from Canada totaled $412.7 billion in the same year. Trump has argued that the gap between Canada and the U.S. is much larger when defense spending is accounted for. Canada is one of a handful of NATO nations that spends less of its GDP, as a percentage, on military expenditures than the alliance's mutually agreed upon guidelines. We rely on contributions from you, our viewers and listeners to do our work. If you visit us daily or weekly or even just once a month, now is a great time to make your monthly contribution. Then it pulled off a victory that seemed impossible just two months ago largely thanks to one man: President Donald Trump who repeatedly threatened to make Canada the 51st state After former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned former central banker Mark Carney took over as Liberal leader and campaigned as someone willing to stand up to the United States while painting the opposition Conservatives as too close to a hostile Trump administration “If you’d asked people around Christmas if the Liberal Party had any chance of forming government in the next election 'Absolutely not,'” says Canadian tech writer and critic Paris Marx who notes that Carney has quickly moved to weaken some of his party’s more progressive policies and cozy up to tech executives even though we have a Liberal Party coming to power over a Conservative Party that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to still be worried about as we see the way that they might potentially govern.” AMY GOODMAN: We begin today’s show in Canada where the Liberal Party has pulled off a victory that seemed impossible just two months ago who’s repeatedly threatened to make Canada the 51st state Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Liberal Party won 169 out of 343 seats in Parliament narrowly failing to win a majority of seats has served as prime minister only in March When Trudeau first announced his plan to resign the Conservatives had a significant lead in the polls It looked like Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre was set to become Canada’s next prime minister He even lost his own seat in the Parliament The campaign shifted once President Trump began threatening Canada’s sovereignty and imposed new tariffs on Canada This is Prime Minister Mark Carney speaking at a victory rally Monday night PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY: America wants our land But these are not — these are not idle threats Our old relationship with the United States a relationship based on steadily increasing integration a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War has helped deliver prosperity for our country for decades We are over — we are over the shock of the American betrayal CARNEY SUPPORTER: But you’re going to take us forward PRIME MINISTER MARK CARNEY: We have to look out for ourselves AMY GOODMAN: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney President Trump called Carney on Tuesday to congratulate him White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said “The election does not affect President Trump’s plan to make Canada America’s cherished 51st state,” unquote the Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre pledged to work with the Liberal Party PIERRE POILIEVRE: Conservatives will work with the prime minister and all parties with the common goal of defending Canada’s interests and getting a new trade deal that puts these tariffs behind us while protecting our sovereignty and the Canadian people AMY GOODMAN: While the Liberal Party in Canada pulled off what’s been described as a “stunning comeback,” support for the left-leaning New Democratic Party Paris, thanks so much for being with us. Why don’t you start off on the Canadian — the surprising Canadian victory? Not surprising from this election, but from a month before. The harder President Trump went after Canada, the more the Liberal Party rose in the polls, until ultimately the prime minister was elected. PARIS MARX: Yeah. It’s great to join you this morning. JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Paris, could you talk more about the impact that the Trump tariffs and the Trump threats to make Canada a 51st state have had on the Canadian population? JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Now, you’ve posted on social media that most of Canada’s top tech executives turned against the Liberals and were betting that the Conservatives would win, but that they don’t have much to fear now under Carney as the nation’s new leader. AMY GOODMAN: And talk about how unusual Mark Carney is, not a politician but a central banker, and what that means. We are hiring for an Individual Giving Manager to support our fundraising team! Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. President Donald Trump says he ‘doesn’t rule out’ taking Arctic island by conquest I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice President Donald Trump has reiterated his threat of using military force to annex Greenland despite the semi-autonomous Arctic nation making it abundantly clear that it prefers to remain independent NBC anchor Kristen Welker revived the subject with the president during his appearance on Sunday’s Meet the Press and pressed him on whether he was serious about using force to seize the resource-rich island administered by Denmark “We need Greenland very badly,” the president said “Greenland is a very small amount of people But we need that for international security.” Trump added the prospect of military action was unlikely but “certainly” a possibility The president previously expressed his interest in the United States acquiring the territory during his first term, even posting a photoshopped image on X of a Trump International Hotel towering over Greenland’s barren and rocky shores and sparking a diplomatic spat with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen when she dismissed the idea Since returning to power, Trump’s repeated overtures have been emphatically rejected by Greenland, Denmark and NATO, with a visit to the island by Vice President JD Vance and his wife Usha in late March that was met with a decidedly chilly reception. A number of scheduled events were canceled and the couple were reduced to having only a brief lunch on an American military base because of an evident lack of local enthusiasm for their trip “President Trump says that the United States ‘will get Greenland.’ Let me be clear: The United States will not get it We decide our own future,” Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said that month Welker also asked Trump during their interview about his threats to annex Canada as America’s 51st state, a threat that helped Liberal Party leader Mark Carney win last week’s general election after he vowed to stand up to the man in Washington. The president admitted it was “highly unlikely” he would use the military against Canada and called Carney “a very nice man” whom he was looking forward to hosting at the White House on Tuesday. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies govt and politics"},{"score":0.662988,"label":"/law govt and politics/armed forces"},{"score":0.646731,"label":"/law govt and politics/government/heads of state"},{"score":0.621751,"label":"/law govt and politics/politics/foreign policy"},{"score":0.544802,"label":"/business and industrial/business operations/business plans"},{"score":0.540669,"label":"/law President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach U.S. President Donald Trump says it’s “highly unlikely” he would resort to military force to annex Canada but is adamant that the border separating it from the United States is “an artificial line” that prevents the two territories from forming a “beautiful country.” Speaking to NBC just days before his first in-person meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney Trump declined to flatly rule out a military invasion of Canada instead saying that it’s not a course of action he envisions taking but that as a “real estate guy at heart,” he feels the two countries should be joined The President’s comments ensure that his persistent talk of making Canada the “51st state” will loom over his planned May 6 meeting with the Prime Minister The sit-down comes at a nadir in bilateral relations after Mr Trump made Canada and Mexico the opening salvo of his global trade war and after he declined in January to rule out using “economic force” to achieve annexation When Mr. Carney, fresh from his election victory, visits Mr. Trump at the White House Tuesday, he will be seeking a grand bargain to end Mr. Trump’s tariffs and assuage Washington’s concerns about Ottawa’s security and defence spending As the Prime Minister announced back in March Trump agreed that after the election the two countries’ leaders would commence negotiations on a “comprehensive economic and security” deal faces a perilous task in rejecting the annexation talk without jeopardizing more than US$1.2-trillion in annual trade Trump tried to make the case that Canada has no leverage when it comes to trade talks and it’s unfair to the United States and our taxpayers.” Trump doesn’t commit to upholding due process rights in NBC interview, plays down possibility of a third term border as “an artificial line that was drawn with a ruler many years ago.” Trump said it “certainly could happen with respect to Greenland.” On Canada “I think we’re not going to ever get to that point,” adding later that “it’s highly unlikely President has so far outlined few concrete demands of Canada meaning much of Tuesday will be spent trying to determine what he wants specifically whether Ottawa can accommodate any of it and if any sort of deal is even possible Carney himself playing down expectations for the May 6 meeting “Do not expect white smoke,” he said Friday referring to the signal at the Vatican that a new pope has been elected who previously served as deputy chief of staff to Justin Trudeau relations for more than nine years in the Prime Minister’s Office said Tuesday’s meeting is an opportunity for these leaders to begin a relationship and take the measure of each other He expects the Canadian delegation will enter the White House with the outlines of a proposal for co-operation but that this could only ultimately succeed if the U.S tariffs were removed from Canadian products “The measure of success for this meeting is to set the foundation for further talks that will hopefully lead to quick removal of tariffs,” Mr “But I really don’t expect removal of tariffs on Tuesday and I don’t think anyone should expect that Carney has flatly ruled out annexation and declared that Canada’s old relationship “of steadily increasing integration with the United States” is over in the age of Mr “The questions now are how our nations will co-operate in the future and where we in Canada will move on,” he said Friday meaning where the two countries will diverge So what kind of deal on trade and defence spending can be struck to end the conflict Trump hope to achieve in talks with Canada Clow said of his time in the Trudeau government “And it’ll be something the Prime Minister and his team are surely already trying to scope out and which these talks and further engagements after will hopefully illuminate.” President has been clear about wanting to bring back manufacturing to the United States and he has said tariffs are designed to force companies to relocate factories inside American borders an international affairs expert at the University of Ottawa and former adviser to Mr he has not dropped his 51st-state messaging “It’s still not clear what the United States is putting on the table with regards to Canada We’ve only had a smattering of grievances as opposed to an opening offer,” he said One possible move for Canada would be to try to quickly open negotiations over a renewal of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to funnel Mr Trump’s complaints about Canada into a more controlled setting “Having a negotiating table would provide a structure to Trump’s free-form style a way of channelling the discussion if Trump wakes up one day deciding to criticize some other element of Canadian policy,” Prof Trump’s global trade war will take on the U.S economy will also work to Canada’s advantage by cranking up the pressure on the White House to reverse course Carney’s strategy involves pressing the Trump administration to back down: Canada is one of the few countries to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S and is also working with trade-aligned American politicians and businesses to fight back against Mr the inflationary impact of Trump’s tariffs will become clearer to people He’s aware of this mounting concern and that’s only going to grow,” Prof it is unclear that such an approach can actually work Trump’s concerns on fentanyl failed to resolve this matter flew to the United States to find a solution he pledged $1.3-billion more in spending over six years on helicopters surveillance gear and border-security employees to address Mr Trump’s concerns about fentanyl and illegal immigrants entering the United States from Canada Despite the fact that statistics show a very small fraction of illegal fentanyl is seized at the U.S.-Canada border Ottawa also appointed a “fentanyl czar” to oversee a crackdown on illegal production and distribution of the opioid Trump from imposing 25-per-cent tariffs on all Canadian goods − and 10 per cent on energy critical minerals and potash − before exempting most imports from Canada from this levy “We put a whole bunch of extra resources and money into it and it turned out to not to satisfy the Americans,” Mr Trump’s beefs with Canada − and he has listed many − are in some cases based on questionable information He alleges that the United States is subsidizing Canada by about US$200-billion per year he’s suggested that this is connected to the trade imbalance between Canada and the United States where U.S customers buy more goods from Canada than vice versa trade deficit with Canada has averaged a little more than $100-billion annually for the past three years Its deficit is smaller when services are taken into account Trump’s $200-billion grievance figure includes a notional estimate of how much the United States spends on protecting Canada “They are attributing some level of defence spending to that number and calling it a subsidy of Canada.” levies on Canada that remain in effect include 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum as well as a 25-per-cent tariff on Canadian-made vehicles There is also a 25-per-cent tariff – which drops to 10 per cent on critical minerals energy and potash – for goods that don’t comply with USMCA rules of origin Canada responded with a series of countertariffs on tens of billions of dollars of U.S Carney can demonstrate progress is military spending He promised during the election campaign to speed up the timeline for Canada to reach NATO’s target of military spending equivalent to 2 per cent of GDP This will cost Canada about $20-billion more per year and Mr Carney is preparing plans to reach this threshold by 2030 instead of 2032 Business Council of Canada president Goldy Hyder cautioned against seeking a bilateral trade deal with the United States instead of a trilateral agreement including Mexico a bilateral arrangement could create unnecessary risk and undermine Canada’s mutually beneficial trilateral economic partnership with the United States and Mexico,” Mr He said Ottawa’s priority should be expediting the scheduled 2026 renewal of the USMCA and starting negotiations on updating it Hyder said business leaders in all three countries believe this route is the “only way to restore the certainty stability and predictability required to regain the investor confidence that underpins our continental economy.” who heads a business group pushing for more integration across the Canada-U.S Carney may be able to establish common ground: the U.S.’s need for critical minerals and concern for Arctic security “It doesn’t make sense for Canada to just go on an appeasement campaign and say ‘whatever you need we’ve got it,‘ but it does make sense for Canada to figure out where its own interests lie and where those intersect with the United States,” said Ms executive director of the Future Borders Coalition “Engagement with the United States is not the same as capitulating.” Report an editorial error Report a technical issue Editorial code of conduct Authors and topics you follow will be added to your personal news feed in Following Steven Chase is a senior parliamentary reporter for The Globe and Mail He has covered federal politics in Ottawa for The Globe since mid-2001 He previously worked in the paper's Vancouver and Calgary bureaus and originally joined The Globe and Mail in 1998 he reported on Alberta politics for the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun He’s had ink-stained hands for far longer though having worked as a paperboy for the (now defunct) Montreal Star the Vancouver Sun and the North Shore News In four instances, Mr. Chase has been part of a Globe team that won a National Newspaper award. In 2023, he was a recipient of the Parliamentary Press Gallery Charles Lynch Award for outstanding national affairs coverage. In 2024, he and colleague Robert Fife won the Sidney Hillman Prize for their work on foreign interference again for their work on foreign interference I have been based in Washington since January 2017 My coverage here has included three elections and the many major events that have shaped the direction of the world's largest economy \n\nI also report regularly from across the country and climate change in Michigan and Mississippi from high-level negotiations to the ground-level effects of the relationship I covered Ontario provincial politics from Queen’s Park and general assignment for the Toronto desk Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. This is a space where subscribers can engage with each other and Globe staff. Non-subscribers can read and sort comments but will not be able to engage with them in any way. 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Or sign-in if you have an account Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page With many of our classical presenters’ series winding down or even over next month is notable for intriguing explorations Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience aficionados of new music can sample a bumper crop of events at The Annex that useful and adaptive space tucked in behind the Orpheum on Seymour Street The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra presents Coastal Soundscapes Get top headlines and gossip from the world of celebrity and entertainment By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc The next issue of Sun Spots will soon be in your inbox Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Conductor Naomi Woo has assembled a sampler of new music including the late Jocelyn Morlock’s Blue Sun for violin and viola a turn of the century work for chamber ensemble Also on the program is Vancouver-based Robyn Jacob’s A World in Each a commemorative piece about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Woo will perform piano music by ex-Vancouverite Alexina Louie: her evocative Memories in an Ancient Garden from Scenes from a Jade Terrace Radical Traditions: New Music for Gamelan Vancouver boasts several gamelan ensembles and Kembang Telang — will be on show in a mid-month concert presenting a mixture of traditional Indonesian repertoire and new works Turning Point Ensemble presents Kaija Saariaho: Notes on Light One of the great figures in contemporary composition The Turning Point Ensemble offers a timely portrait of the Finnish master The highlight of the program is her Notes on Light a 2007 commission by the illustrious Boston Symphony cellist Isidora Nojkovic is featured with an ensemble of 19 musicians Rounding out the program are Semafor for eight instruments and vocal works sung by Robyn Driedger-Klassen with instrumental backup Muzewest Concerts Society presents Avan Yu and Friends Muzewest celebrates its transition to the leadership of pianist Avan Yu The first half of the program is a selection of incomparable piano music by Maurice Ravel; then Yu is joined by Nicholas Wright and Jonathan Lo for Robert Schumann’s one and only piano quintet On what used to be called Victoria Day, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra offers the latest installment of the extravagant Day of Music project, billed as “Over 100 performances to enjoy… something for everyone in the family.” The Orpheum/VSO School of Music block is ground zero, and satellite stages will operate all around downtown. All events are free, and festivities wind up with a concert by the entire VSO in the Orpheum at 8 p.m. When: May 30, 8 p.m.; May 31, 8 p.m.; Jun 1,  2 p.m. The VSO’s flagship Masterworks Gold series winds up with a rare chance to hear Richard Strauss’s gargantuan Alpine Symphony, a tone poem structured around a day in the mountains. Music director Otto Tausk pairs the Strauss with  Prokofiev’s ultra popular Third Piano Concerto essayed by Canadian superstar pianist Bruce Liu. transmission or republication strictly prohibited This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy You can manage saved articles in your account Have you felt the financial impact of Trump's tariffs yet View Results OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump says it is “highly unlikely” the United States would ever use military force to annex Canada. In a wide-ranging interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press” which aired Sunday, Trump says he wouldn’t rule it out against Greenland, but says he doesn’t see it happening with Canada. The remarks come as Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to have his first face-to-face meeting with Trump this week in Washington. Trump also downplayed the United States’ reliance on Canadian imports, telling NBC his country doesn’t need anything of Canada’s. The U.S. imported $412.7 billion of Canadian goods in 2024, according to the United States trade representative. The bulk of Canada’s exports to the U.S. were energy and minerals. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2025. use disinformation to destroy politicians careers cause other nations not to come to your aid using threats create and addiction crisis and deploy economic warfare Some of these practises have already been used by foreign actor nations and groups to weaken our country for their own benefits including using paid protestors while began about 15 years ago to shut down oil and gas pipelines and proposed facilities,using Indigenous and unemployed persons to man the lines and funded by foreign nations who were protecting their own markets and bilionaires who have major investments the Canadian railroad companies who shipped much of the product that would end up in pipelines and some of those same paid protestors continued further with other causes many couldn’t answer basic questions about the Israeli-Gaza war Trump doesn’t need to use military force it has had well planned strategies on how to take over Canada Mexico and other countries of interest for decades as Russia and Britain have or had over the years and I am sure China has had for the last 10 years with a few thousand spies in Canada alone and at least 40 thousand in the US as they have embedded themselves in North America Trump and enough blind fellow Canadians shamefully voted for skid-mark carney ,even after all the degeneration to our country by the turdo lead liberals Jabmeat has secured himself the pension he was stalling for in a crash involving a vehicle and motorcycle in the South Annex neighbourhood on Friday night Toronto Police officers were notified of a collision in the Bathurst Street and Ulster Street area just after 9 p.m Toronto Paramedics say two adults in their 20’s were taken to a trauma centre while the woman is in serious non-life-threatening condition Investigators say they were both on the motorcycle involved in the crash Leafs and Panthers players discuss Game 1 of round 2 of the playoffs Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls on Prime Minister Mark Carney to prioritize a list of projects including the proposed Highway 401 tunnel Monday is calling for rain and thunderstorms Stella Acquisto has the long-range forecast Could we see another indefinite pause on postal service in the country Negotiations are underway again as Canada Post and the workers’ union try to cut a deal to avoid a lockout or strike later this month listen to NewsRadio Toronto live anytime and get up-to-the-minute breaking-news alerts weather and video from CityNews Toronto anywhere you are – across all Android and iOS devices Liberal Party leader and former central banker Mark Carney will continue as Canada’s prime minister after his party won Monday’s federal election The Liberals have fallen three seats short of the 172 needed for a parliamentary majority their continued rule is not in doubt due to the support of a much-diminished New Democratic Party (NDP) Carney will head a vicious right-wing government that will pursue rearmament for imperialist world war work with the European imperialist powers to ensure the war with Russia in Ukraine continues and mount brutal attacks on the social and democratic rights of workers at home to bolster the “competitiveness” of Canadian capitalism His Liberals are pledged to raise military spending to 2 percent of gross domestic product by 2030 although much of the corporate elite and national security establishment are urging a quick move to 3 percent or more Even the lesser figure will entail huge attacks on social spending to cover the tens of billions in additional defence expenditure needed every single year In early January, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced from office the Liberals were trailing the Conservative official opposition in the polls by more than 20 percentage points on Monday under Carney they won 43.7 percent of the vote an 11-percentage-point increase from the 2021 election up from the 160 they captured four years ago whose far-right leader Pierre Poilievre failed to win his Ottawa-area riding as well as the Tories’ failure to secure the thumping victory projected only a few months ago reflects widespread hostility in the working class to the program of oligarchic rule dictatorship and war represented by Trump and by Poilievre who is widely viewed among workers and young people as the advocate of a Trump-style program for Canada The two main parties gained ground primarily at the expense of the social-democratic NDP and to a lesser extent the Bloc Quebecois the Canadian ruling class’s traditional parties of government secured more than 80 percent of the total vote for the first time since 1958 The social democrats suffered an historic debacle a result that was decisive in the Liberal victory barely a third of their 17.8 percent share in 2021 NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh resigned on election night after finishing a distant third in his Vancouver-area riding of Burnaby Central Having failed to win the required minimum of 12 seats the social democrats will no longer enjoy official party status in the House of Commons The election campaign was dominated by US President Donald Trump’s initiation of trade war against Canada America’s supposed “free trade” partner in the USMCA and his threats to use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state—a demand he repeated on election day Carney launched his election campaign by declaring that the vote was about securing Canada’s continued existence as an independent state supported by the trade union bureaucracy and corporate media have responded by whipping up Canadian nationalism to corral workers behind Canadian imperialism in the trade war with the US Singh asserted near the beginning of his resignation speech late Monday evening felt compelled to outline from the standpoint of the interests of Canadian imperialism that the partnership between Ottawa and Washington and the broader post-war capitalist order on which it rested have broken down “As I’ve been warning for months,” said Carney President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us.” both major party leaders had agreed to negotiations with Trump after the election Remarking on his approach to talks with Trump We are once again at one of those hinge moments of history a system that while not perfect has helped deliver prosperity for our country for decades He claimed that he would be negotiating an “economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations,” before adding that the talks with Trump will be conducted “with our full knowledge that we have many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians We will strengthen our relations with reliable partners in Europe the task they confront is imposing the cost of the deepest crisis of Canadian and world capitalism since World War II on the backs of the working class The Liberal prime minister alluded to this when he declared “We will need to do things previously thought impossible at speeds we haven’t seen in generations.” Substantial sections of workers and youth voted for Carney to express their hostility to Trump whose drive to establish a presidential dictatorship in the United States and reorder the global economy and redraw the map of the world in the interests of US imperialism is deeply unpopular the big business Liberals will in some way take the interests of working people into account in contrast to the right-wing Tories has been cultivated by the trade unions and NDP for years the NDP and its union backers have trumpeted the line that the only way for workers to fight the right-wing Tories is by supporting “progressive parties,” i.e. The trade union bureaucracy’s subordination of the working class to the “left” parties of the capitalist establishment has gone hand-in-hand with their systematic suppression of the class struggle thereby preventing workers from intervening independently into the political situation by exerting their tremendous social power to beat back the onslaught of corporate Canada on their wages and on the public services upon which they depend and its member unions have sabotaged one struggle after another by workers in a major strike wave that has swept across the country and all parts of the economy as the Trudeau government was imploding with the resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) ran roughshod over the sentiments of rank-and-file postal workers and forced them to surrender to a patently illegal Liberal government back-to-work order The bankruptcy of the strategy of voting “progressive” is laid bare by the NDP’s election result In the face of a fascist-minded President Trump in the White House itching to take over the country and a Trump-style demagogue at the head of the opposition Tories in Canada the main beneficiary was a multi-millionaire former central banker and investment executive who has spent his entire adult life catering to the interests of the financial oligarchy the Canadian bourgeoisie’s preferred party of government especially in British Columbia and to a lesser extent in Ontario the systematic smothering of worker opposition to austerity and war by the unions and the NDP’s complicity in implementing these policies through its support for “progressive” governments drove some workers into the arms of the far-right Poilievre Poilievre was able to use a demagogic social appeal to some effect exploiting workers’ anger at the indifference of the “left” and “liberals”— in the US and in Canada the NDP-supported Trudeau government—to mounting economic distress The Conservatives won seats in traditional manufacturing areas that were previously considered NDP strongholds a development aided by the support of a section of the trade union bureaucracy extended to Poilievre during the election campaign The NDP’s collapse is the product of its unstinting support for the pro-war which was given with the enthusiastic backing of the trade union bureaucracy the NDP has propped up successive minority Liberal governments in parliament It kept the Liberals in power as they oversaw the ruling class’s profits-before-lives pandemic policy; massively hiked military spending; played a leading role in the US-NATO instigated war with Russia over Ukraine; backed Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians; oversaw inflation-driven real wage cuts; and “reinterpreted” the labor code to arrogate the power to break strikes by government decree Just one month after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 Singh struck a “confidence-and-supply” agreement with Trudeau to keep the Liberals in power until 2025 for the purpose Key sections of the bourgeoisie swung behind Carney He is considered a “safe pair of hands” who could reach a deal with Trump to bring Canada within a Washington-led “Fortress North America,” so long as its role as a junior partner of US imperialism is duly recognized the Canadian ruling class would prefer to revive and retain its more than eight-decade-long military-strategic partnership with Washington to pursue its global imperialist interests It also considers Carney’s track record as a central banker for the oligarchy as a guarantee that he will impose the cost of the capitalist crisis on the backs of workers which he has underlined during his brief prime ministership by shifting government policy sharply to the right In the less than two months since he took over from Trudeau Carney has abandoned a proposed capital gains tax hike and pledged in the name of “free trade” between the provinces to abolish numerous labour regulations and other restrictions on business by Canada Day (July 1) it is a reflection of Canadian imperialism’s deepening crisis that support for Carney within ruling circles is far from overwhelming endorsed Poilievre on the eve of the election as the best instrument for imposing savage austerity and gutting all regulatory restraints on capital The Conservatives also enjoyed the staunch support of much of Canada’s resource sector The breakup of Canadian imperialism’s traditional alliance with Washington and Trump’s threat to take over Canada have deepened longstanding regional tensions within the ruling class which found expression in the election and could assume more malignant forms in the coming months where Premiers Danielle Smith and Scott Moe have been critical of the official “Team Canada” response to Trump and pressed for a separate deal with Washington the Conservatives won close to two-thirds of the popular vote and the Liberals barely more than a quarter While the Liberals gained ground from the separatist Bloc Quebecois in Quebec the BQ still secured 22 seats and will return to parliament as the third-largest party Quebec Premier François Legault and his right-wing Coalition Avenir Quebec government with which the BQ has declared its affinity even though its formal provincial ally is the opposition nationalist Parti Québécois has issued strident demands for Quebec’s interests to be recognized in any talks with Trump Legault has also pushed for the development of new economic ties with the European imperialist powers especially in the defence and mineral extraction industries As these competing and contradictory interests collide and are exacerbated by the pressure sure to be applied by Washington during negotiations between Trump and Carney the one certainty is that the ruling class in Canada will seek to offload its crisis onto the backs of the working class The financial oligarchy wants the evisceration of workers’ democratic and social rights the abolition of all regulatory restraints on corporate profiteering and environmental protection and a massive increase in military spending to secure Canada’s interests in the global redivision of the world that is well underway Carney intends to deliver this program in close cooperation with the Liberals’ trade union partners upon whom they will continue to rely on as they did under Trudeau to strangle opposition in the working class he will be focused on “bringing together labour and civil society to advance the nation-building investments we need to transform our economy.” No matter how the conflicts between American and Canadian imperialism and within the regional factions of the Canadian bourgeoisie play out in the immediate period ahead, the working class cannot defend its interests by lining up behind any of them. As the Socialist Equality Party emphasized in its election statement: Trump is a menace to the workers of Canada and the world. But workers can’t fight him and all he represents—oligarchy, dictatorship and imperialist war—by lining up with the Canadian bourgeoisie, any of its rival factions or political representatives. Rather, they must assert their independent class interests by forging a movement for workers’ power and fighting to fuse their struggles with the mass opposition to Trump now emerging within the American working class. Canadian workers must assist their American colleagues in breaking free of the Democratic Party, which no less than Trump’s fascist Republicans is a party of Wall Street and the CIA, and its trade union allies. The cross-border movement must spearhead the struggle for a united socialist North America. The house has been renovated several times over the years and now has 1,822 square feet of living space.Sotheby’s International Realty Canada There were two properties on the same Annex cul-de-sac early this year; one took months to sell; this one sold in 24 hours This row house had no parking but was across the street from Cottingham Jr and there’s a park and school across the street so not that many [like it] come up,” said agent Elli Davis A buyer wrote an offer $10,000 over asking to shut out other shoppers due to inspect the property over the weekend The eat-in kitchen has sliding doors that lead to a 15-by 138-foot lot.Sotheby’s International Realty Canada This 130-year-old house has been renovated several times over the years and now has 1,822 square feet of living space including open principal rooms and an eat-in kitchen with sliding doors to the 15- by 138-foot lot There are three bedrooms on the second floor but the primary suite occupies the entire top floor It has a third bathroom and a walk-in closet with an exit to a terrace but the primary suite occupies the entire top floor.Sotheby’s International Realty Canada “The area has a combination of newer and older homes and this one is an older one nicely updated,” Ms a stained-glass window and a gas fireplace in the living room.” An official website of the United States government JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Please click here to see any active alerts The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) is an agreement between the U.S and Canada to restore and protect the waters of the Great Lakes It’s a framework for identifying binational priorities and actions that improve water quality Under the Nutrients Annex (Annex 4) of the GLWQA and Canadian Domestic Action Plans (DAPs) for phosphorus reductions in each country Reduction targets were developed by the Annex 4 Nutrients Subcommittee and adopted formally by the U.S Five-year DAPs were issued in 2018 and are up for renewal in 2023 The three key eutrophication issues to be addressed in Lake Erie are:   and Canada adopted the following phosphorus reduction targets to address these issues for Lake Erie: No phosphorus reduction targets have been set for the eastern basin This is because Cladophora growth is influenced by many other factors EPA and ECCC are in agreement that nutrient reduction targets may not be effective to address Cladophora impacts in the eastern basin.   The in-lake phosphorus concentrations expected to result from the recommended phosphorus load reductions are within the ranges associated with desired nutrient levels in each of the lake’s basins This is an important consideration because too little nutrients could put the fisheries at risk.  The process to review and evaluate the phosphorus targets for Lake Erie began in 2013 and Canada used nine different computer simulation models to correlate changes in phosphorus levels with levels of algal growth the GLWQA Nutrients Annex Subcommittee was able to arrive at phosphorus load reduction targets 2008 was selected due to the quality of the data available for that year and because conditions in Lake Erie in 2008 were considered representative of an “average” year The subcommittee’s recommendations are based on information contained in the following factsheet Join the thousands of Torontonians who’ve signed up for our free newsletter and get award-winning local journalism delivered to your inbox The Annex had fewer residents in 2021 than 1971 illogical densification pattern of the last 50 years created today’s Toronto the ceiling of the Walmer Road Baptist Church caved in Staff members arrived the next day to find a hole in the plaster above them and bits of debris that had scattered had been bracing herself for a disaster like this one but she didn’t have a plan because plans cost money “We’d looked into having the ceiling reinforced “We couldn’t even afford the scaffolding.” When the church was founded in the late 1880s the Baptist denomination was among the most successful religious orders in Canada and quatrefoil windows—had been designed by Edmund Burke the architect behind the Bloor Street Viaduct a greenfield neighbourhood with a few stately mansions belonging to captains of industry the church was a place where “rich and poor gather together.” There were no pew rentals or reserved seats Walmer offered free health care throughout the Spanish flu pandemic sent food and clothing westward during the Dust Bowl a refuge for Latvian migrants who’d fled the Red Army aided by the class diversity of the surrounding area many Annex mansions were converted into rooming houses attracting itinerant men to a neighbourhood of homeowners to accommodate waves of immigrants from eastern Europe the architect Uno Prii designed his iconic Annex apartment blocks modelled on the flashy modernism of Miami Beach Services at Walmer overflowed into the aisles When Mealey began working for the church in 2012 Low- and middle-income residents were being priced out of the Annex which was now home to the city’s intellectual elites—people more likely to attend the Massey Lectures than an Easter Sunday church service who lives with her family near Wellesley and Yonge had considered moving to the neighbourhood but even the tiniest Annex apartments were too pricey for her budget she relocated the services to a small auditorium on the west side of the building and helped the various non-profits that used the church—a food bank a seniors’ theatre company—to find permanent homes elsewhere “They needed a place they could depend on,” she explains “not one on the verge of shutting its doors.” The church members couldn’t pay to restore the sanctuary Walmer had one valuable asset: the land on which it stood Walmer would allow a 20-storey residential tower to be built on a parking lot adjacent to the building and it would use the resulting windfall to restore the property towers have sprung up on the thoroughfares that run through or alongside the Annex But the interior Annex and surrounding communities have retained much of their low-rise charm in part because the neighbours wanted it that way People have fought seemingly every kind of development: homeless shelters Margaret Atwood joined forces with heiress Cleophee Eaton and Loblaw president Galen Weston Jr to protest the construction of an 8-storey 16-unit condo building on a commercial property Would the Walmer tower suffer a similar fate we’ve had eight huge buildings go up over the last three years,” she says “Nobody asked me if it’s okay to build there.” Toronto is divided into two kinds of people: those who act and those who are acted upon these people also live in two kinds of places: horizontal neighbourhoods the story of Toronto—a city in the midst of a housing emergency—is the story of how these two neighbourhoods interact People in the horizontal city often fiercely oppose signs of verticality in their midst And so towers—the kind that bring necessary density—are built mainly where they already exist By seeking to bring a tower into the heart of the Annex Walmer was violating a sacred Toronto taboo has almost nothing to do with the story of Debie Mealey Except Jahan and Mealey both live in Toronto their life circumstances are connected in ways that can be initially hard to see she was immediately disappointed by her new home which didn’t resemble the land of opportunity she’d imagined it to be had arrived years earlier and found the family an apartment in Crescent Town a suite of high rises near Victoria Park station which had become a landing pad for Bangladeshi newcomers Jahan took one look at her drab surroundings and recoiled The neighbourhood had been born of grand ambitions the developer Belmont Construction bought up the Crescent School—an all-boys academy on a forested property near the Taylor-Massey Creek—the company’s general manager envisioned himself building a community of the future would be outfitted with the best amenities from squash courts to wading pools to elevated walkways connecting to the newly opened subway station But Crescent Town didn’t become the fashionable enclave it was intended to be It seems that affluent Torontonains weren’t too keen on living in concrete slabs far removed from the downtown core the neighbourhood still offered a business opportunity a new model of “financialized” home ownership began sweeping across Canada and property management companies began buying up buildings These entities treated their properties less like homes and more like assets wring profits out of them in any possible way and pass the spoils along to investors or shareholders these entities made money by upgrading buildings and flipping the units to wealthier tenants they turned a profit by “economising” on expenses allowing buildings to fall into disrepair even as the market drove rental prices up even old-school landlords were imitating the tactics of their financialized peers CEO of the asset management company Starlight Investments speaking at a seminar for real estate executives: “There is a definite housing shortage or almost a crisis level in Canada … and the good news for investors is there is no easy solution in sight Although the neighbourhood was packed with people—over 16,000 in a single square kilometre—Jahan felt more lonely in Crescent Town than she’d ever been she began working at McDonald’s to make money for her daughters who were finishing schooling in Dhaka her husband was diagnosed with stomach cancer “We’d known each other since childhood,” she says “He was the most fun-loving man I’d ever met.” Islam was buried in a Muslim cemetery near Pickering Jahan vowed to stay in Toronto to be close to him she returned to McDonald’s—this time as a night worker—to pay the bills and she found herself laid off and dependent on CERB which gave her barely enough money to buy necessities and send remittances home she visited the Pinedale office in her building she did something she never thought she’d do: she skipped a rent payment Jahan could see her fellow residents going to the rental office in unusually high numbers When Pinedale sent a representative to her door to pressure her into paying up Jahan noticed that the woman hadn’t just come for her: when the representative left she went down the hall to visit other units and she quickly learned that many other tenants were in the same predicament she was in (The Local repeatedly reached out to Pinedale to request an interview or a comment but received no response.) Could the management really evict all of them Jahan and her neighbours decided to find out they systematically knocked on every door in the three buildings adding as many people as possible to a WhatsApp group maybe this time they will listen,’” Jahan explains There’s no reason for their paths to cross whereas Crescent Town lies near the eastern reaches of the subway line And yet the Crescent Town neighbourhood is The point here isn’t simply that some Toronto communities have elegant Victorian homes while others have drab towers that the drab towers exist because of the elegant homes The hardships that Crescent Town residents endure enable the luxuries that people enjoy elsewhere The Greater Toronto Area has grown immensely, from 2.7 million residents in 1971 to 6.2 million in 2021, an average influx of 70,000 people per year. And yet, during this same period, according to decades of census data analyzed by Jens von Bergmann of CensusMapper many Toronto neighbourhoods have de-densified that there are fewer people living there today than there were five decades ago of the 20 census blocks analyzed by von Bergmann and the remaining 11 have seen a net reduction of between 10 and 120 people per hectare—all during a period in which the city itself has more than doubled Toronto’s west side — a massive swath of land bounded by Bathurst Street and Queen Street—had fewer residents in 2021 than it did fifty years earlier This phenomenon is particularly galling because the de-densifying blocks are They are serviced better than virtually anywhere else is happening in select places: the outer suburbs of the Peel located immediately east or south of downtown; and many scattered which are often adjacent to urban thoroughfares It would be simplistic to say that these regions are taking on 100 percent of Toronto’s densification they’re absorbing both the inflows to Toronto from elsewhere in the world and the internal migration from the city’s shrinking residential blocks The resulting urban geography is one of extremes like Weston and Lawrence or Jane and Finch rely on the impossibly slow-moving Jane Street bus Public schools in the tony Harbord Village–Little Italy region are woefully under-enrolled but those near the Shephard and Yonge tower cluster are packed to the breaking point Some communities are in a constant state of flux; others seem frozen in time “There has been massive change in certain parts of the city,” says Matti Siemiatycki director of the Infrastructure Institute at the University of Toronto “Others feel the same as they did twenty years ago.” Siemiatycki says that there are four main reasons why things have gone this way as the legendary urbanist (and Annex resident) Jane Jacobs liked to say While New York has tenements and Montreal has triplexes Toronto has detached and semi-detached homes from polychromatic brickwork to pitched roofs adorned with vergeboard One can admire the beauty of these homes while also wishing that the early city planners had built with greater density in mind “Built forms get locked in,” says Zachary Hyde an urban geographer and sociologist at the University of Toronto decisions that are made at one point in time will have these incredibly long run-on effects.” The city has sought to preserve the distinctive character of its low-rise (or so-called “yellow belt”) neighbourhoods by putting limits on the kinds of developments that can happen there Some of these limits amount to outright bans: you can’t build an apartment block on a street zoned for houses But burdensome regulations—from parking minimums to setback requirements which are hard to comply with on small residential properties—have amounted to de facto bans too any citizen could file a complaint against a proposed development for a measly $400 These complaints didn’t have to be credible to be effective By bombarding developers with frivolous grievances—thereby eating into their time and budget—NIMBYs could send a message: you’d be better off taking your work elsewhere NIMBYism derived its power from its alignment with zoning rules the policy for so-called established neighbourhoods was to basically leave them alone,” says Siemiatycki the intensification has been immense.”  Some downtown communities resemble garden suburbs; others are thickets of high rises All of these factors help explain why the yellow belt has failed to densify but they don’t explain why it has also shrunk yellow belt houses were often home to boomer parents and millennial children and because many have been priced out of downtown And so dwellings that once housed families of four or five are now home to one or two Exacerbating this problem is the phenomenon of “reno-ductions,” whereby old Victorian triplexes and fourplexes get bought up and converted into palatial single-family homes There are many problems with housing in Toronto, but the biggest is that there isn’t enough. The Smart Prosperity Institute at the University of Ottawa estimates that, to close the gap between supply and demand, the Greater Toronto Area would need to add 750,000 new homes by 2031. In such an under-supplied market, low-income renters are desperate to hang on to whatever they’ve got. And so they will put up with price gouging and mistreatment that would be unacceptable in a healthy market. One would imagine that, given the terrible state of 500 Dawes, renters would be abandoning it in droves. In fact, the building is in high demand, because all Toronto buildings are. And it isn’t only destitute people who are moving in. “We’re seeing an influx of young professionals,” says Endoh. “We have nurses, skilled trades people, and law clerks. 500 Dawes is the only place they can afford.” A one-bedroom unit rents for $1,800—a total rip-off and the best deal in town. The TAS team also opted for a non-confrontational approvals process—a series of mediation sessions run by the OLT. Residents were invited to register as participants, and the final decision would be ratified once the group had reached a consensus. Because the sessions were confidential, Chemij cannot comment on the details. But he acknowledges that, during the negotiating process, the design of the tower has changed dramatically. “The building isn’t anything like it was,” he says. “Year after year, block after block, community after community, Toronto has deferred to property owners and declined opportunities to build.” Siemiatycki says that, when neighbours oppose a local development, they often do so on reasonable grounds. Residents’ associations aren’t deluded; they’re just looking out for themselves. And when an individual development gets kiboshed, the citywide effect on housing supply is negligible. Judged on a case-by-case basis, NIMBYism is a victimless crime. Join the thousands of Torontonians who've signed up for our free newsletter and get award-winning local journalism delivered to your inbox. I asked Mealy if, during her workday, she sometimes visits the sanctuary. “I don’t,” she responded. “There’s a sadness in it.” She added that, as a Baptist, she needs to temper her affection, lest her reverence stray into idolatry: “Baptists don’t think space is sacred. God does not live here. He’s with us, as people.” The rent strike, Jahan told me, had created a sense of community that hadn’t existed before. “When I moved here, we never said hello to our neighbours,” she explained. “I didn’t even know the people next door. Today, when I step out of my building, there are people I can talk to, who give me a smile or invite me over.” The union’s WhatsApp group has become an all-purpose message board. People exchange household goods or offer to cook each other hot meals for a nominal fee. Simon Lewsen writes for The Walrus, Report on Business, Toronto Life, and Maclean’s. He teaches writing at the University of Toronto. We're able to produce impactful, award-winning journalism thanks to the generous support of readers. By supporting The Local, you're contributing to a new kind of journalism—in-depth, non-profit, from corners of Toronto too often overlooked. In Toronto, neighbourhoods separated by just a few TTC stops can be worlds apart in terms of how residents experience life, and death. Our five-year-anniversary issue is an unprecedented deep-dive into this city’s disparities—on everything from health and housing to who makes 3-1-1 complaints. From wealthy neighbours griping about shrubbery to low-income tenants requesting winter heat—a map of 311 requests charts a certain kind of civic engagement, and privilege. Recent analysis by The Local shows just how widespread encampments have become, and how the City’s clearing efforts simply pushed unhoused Torontonians from one park to another. For years, unhoused people like Davit Sesisheili have gone from park to park, moving when the City evicts them. With new data, and reporting and photography that spans years, this is the most comprehensive, intimate portrait of Toronto’s failing encampments strategy. A joint project by The Local and St. Michael’s Hospital, the first-ever neighbourhood-level analysis of life expectancy in Toronto, reveals stark disparities across the city. Grief, and hope, in the downtown eastside neighbourhood with the lowest life-expectancy in the city. This North York neighbourhood has plenty of public amenities and walkable streets. But the secret to residents’ good health may have a less expected explanation: immigration. In-depth, non-profit journalism from corners of Toronto too often overlooked. The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox Trump has repeatedly said that Canada can avoid tariffs if it becomes the 51st U.S. state. Canadian officials initially dismissed the remark as a joke, but it took on a more menacing tone in January when Trump pledged to use “economic force” to overtake the country. Trudeau told a group of business leaders last month that he believes the threat is real. The president slapped 10 per cent tariffs on Canadian energy products and 25 per cent duties on everything else the country buys from Canada and Mexico. Trudeau’s government hit back with levies targeting $30 billion in American products including cosmetics, appliances, tires, fruit and wine. If Trump’s levies stay in place, Canada’s tariffs will be expanded in three weeks to a broader range of goods worth $155 billion in annual imports from U.S. producers. The second phase will hit American-made vehicles as well as aluminum and aerospace products. Trump responded Tuesday with a social media post that referred to “Governor Trudeau” and said that with Canada’s retaliation, “our Reciprocal Tariff will immediately increase by a like amount!” Trump intends to impose so-called reciprocal tariffs on products from nations around the world on April 2. In addition to retaliatory tariffs, Trudeau said his government will file dispute resolution claims at the World Trade Organization and through the free trade agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. Both federal and provincial governments are also in discussions to pursue non-tariff measures that will demonstrate that “there are no winners in a trade war,” he said. Canada’s economy is heavily reliant on the ability to sell goods and resources to the U.S., and many of its businesses and consumers also depend on American-made imports from machinery to food. If the tariffs remain in place, the country appears certain to fall into recession, with economists seeing as much as a 4 percentage-point hit to gross domestic product. The trade war comes at a politically challenging time in Canada. Trudeau will step down soon after his Liberal Party elects a new leader to replace him on Sunday. A general election is also expected in the months ahead. The Parliament is currently suspended until March 24, but some business leaders and politicians are now pushing for an emergency session to pass relief measures for businesses and workers. “Political and policy uncertainty is the last thing the country needs at this moment,” said Dan Kelly, president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Amid the parliamentary vacuum, provincial government leaders have stepped up to craft their own response to U.S. tariffs. Ontario Premier Doug Ford threatened a 25 per cent export tax on electricity exports to the U.S. and announced plans to pull U.S. alcohol from government-owned liquor stores. British Columbia Premier David Eby said liquor from Republican states would be yanked from shelves, and that B.C. products an suppliers would be favored in government procurement. The first phase of tariffs are about spurring more actions to stop of the illicit flow of fentanyl and are “not a trade war,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday on CNBC. Canada will face another phase of tariffs on April 2 when the Trump administration will “reset trade policy,” Lutnick said. Trudeau’s government has unveiled a $1.3 billion border security plan to increase aerial surveillance and personnel at the crossing, even though less than one per cent of the fentanyl seized by U.S. border agents was captured at or near the Canadian border. Trump repeated a false claim Tuesday that U.S. banks are not allowed to do business in Canada. This talking point, which he first raised about a month ago, isn’t true — U.S. banks had $113 billion in Canadian assets as of Nov. 30, a figure Trudeau cited at the news conference. “American banks are alive and well and prospering in Canada,” Trudeau said. Unions in the U.S. and Canada said the tariffs will hurt both economies. “Canadian and American workers are not in competition — we build goods together,” said United Steelworkers International President David McCall. “These tariffs will hurt manufacturing, drive up costs and kill jobs on both sides of the border.” Unifor President Lana Payne agreed, saying Trump “has misjudged how damaging this trade war will be for American workers.” She called on Canadians to build a more resilient economy. “Today our trade relationship forever changed with the U.S.” Trudeau opened his news conference Tuesday by stating that the U.S. has launched a trade war against its closest ally while talking about working positively with “lying, murderous dictator” Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Make that make sense,” Trudeau said. The prime minister also spoke directly to Americans. “Your government has chosen to put American jobs at risk,” he said. “They’ve chosen to raise costs for American consumers on everyday essential items like groceries and gas, on major purchases like cars and homes and everything in between.” He also had a message for Trump: “This is a very dumb thing to do.” —With assistance from Stephanie Lai and Christine Dobby. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy The main structure on the 12-by 125-foot lot has undergone numerous renovations and has an updated kitchen principal rooms and office.Sutton Group-Associates Realty Inc Agent Alex Beauregard spent six hours shovelling a path to the front door of this semi-detached house – which also has an attached laneway house – after a major snowstorm in February Out of the more than 40 potential buyers who made the trek “Our challenge when we came out was the snowstorm happened that same day,” said Mr “But there was high demand for a move-in ready main house with a laneway home based on the number of people who braved coming out.” Potential buyers faced the challenge of many streets that were impassable and huge mounds of snow written by a buyer who frequents the Emily Rose Cafe on the corner this is only the third property with a laneway house that has sold,” Mr “Seaton Village has been popular for eight years now like [the University of Toronto] and Bloor Street bike lanes are right there and lots of parks and great grocery stores are around us.” The five-year-old laneway house has heated floors in the kitchen and living room and in the bedroom and second bathroom upstairs.Sutton Group-Associates Realty Inc The main structure on the 12- by 125-foot lot has undergone numerous renovations and has an updated kitchen three bathrooms and a loft on the third floor The legal basement suite was revamped with one bedroom two exits and an open kitchen and living room The five-year-old laneway house has heated floors in the kitchen and living room and in the bedroom and second bathroom upstairs “The level of finishing in the laneway house was superior to what we usually see,” said Mr “It also had its own separately metered hydro and gas Prime minister says US president covets northern neighbour’s vast resources as Canadians rally against threat warning that the US president wants access to his northern neighbour’s vast supply of critical minerals The outgoing prime minister was in Toronto for a hastily called summit of business and labour leaders seeking to coordinate a response Trump’s looming threat of a 25% tariff on all Canadian imports Earlier this week, Trump backed away from tariffs that would have devastated Canada’s economy, granting one of his country’s largest trading partners a 30-day reprieve for further negotiations. Read moreBut he has continued to mock Canadian sovereignty repeating his description of the country as the “51st state” on social media and repeatedly calling Trudeau “governor” instead of prime minister Friday’s summit included discussions on stemming the movement of fentanyl security at the border and the challenge of interprovincial trade but Trudeau later told an audience that the president’s threats of annexation – often viewed as a negotiating tactic – were serious “I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau reportedly told attendees of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” he said “But Mr Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country.” Canada is rich in minerals considered critical to the green energy transition and has sought to position itself as a trusted and stable supplier of the commodities to allied nations which have upended the longstanding relationship between the two countries have dramatically reshaped federal politics and ushered in a new era of patriotism all parties are scrambling to portray themselves as patriotic and ready to defend the country’s sovereignty Read moreOn Friday, federal cabinet ministers sought to reassure attenders. “Our American friends understand that they need Canada for their economic security, they need Canada for their energy security and they need Canada for their national security,” the industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, told AFP. The trade minister, Anita Anand, said there would be “no messing” with the border. “Canada is free. Canada is sovereign,” the employment minister, Steven MacKinnon, told reporters. “Canada will choose its own destiny, thank you very much.” Join the conversation You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account. U.S.  President Donald Trump’s threat of 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian exports to the United States can’t be justified by the false claim that illegal immigrants and large amounts of the synthetic opioid fentanyl are flooding across the Canadian border. The accusation about fentanyl is preposterous, since the total amount intercepted at the Canadian-US border in the last year is far less than one per cent of the amount stopped at the Mexican-US border. Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. As for the alleged border-crossers, why would any migrant safely in Canada (generous to asylum-seekers, gun control, universal health-care, few crazies, pretty relaxed about race) want to sneak into the U.S. (deportations, medical bankruptcies, guns everywhere, racism rampant, and “Christian nationalists” in charge)? There is no flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S. from Canada. Trump must have some other motive for including Canada in the top three targets on his tariff hit list with Mexico and China. What could it be? For want of any more convincing motive, Trump’s oft-repeated intention to annex Canada must be taken seriously. So far, he continues to say he’ll achieve this exclusively by “economic pressure.” and Canadians will cling to this assurance – but they shouldn’t bet the farm on it. The reason it’s hard to take the “American threat” seriously is because countries just don’t behave like this anymore. (OK, Russia does, but it’s the only other country to act on such an ambition, or even express such an intention, for a very long time.) Nevertheless, Trump’s intention is probably real. Just listen to how he speaks. On Feb. 2, he wrote on Truth Social that Canada “should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada — AND NO TARIFFS!” “We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country.” It’s a waste of time to rebut Trump’s lies and distortions line by line – there’s one in almost every sentence – but three things are worth noting. First, Canada’s geography means the only country that can pose a direct military threat to it is the U.S. Second, there is no U.S. subsidy of any kind to the Canadian economy. And third, he really means it. I’m certainly not suggesting Trump has a plan to invade Canada, or even (as he claims) a step-by-step strategy for squeezing Canada economically until it surrenders its sovereignty. Neither do I think he will necessarily succeed in his ambition. But I am saying he poses an existential theat to the Canadian confederation. Why do people have such trouble believing this? Only 23 years ago, another U.S. president, George W. Bush, actually invaded the wrong country (Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, and no connection with the 9/11 attacks). Trump is even more ignorant than Bush, and certainly more impulsive. He already has begun economic pressure on Canada, which was ready to respond with like-for-like tariffs until Trump suspended his 25 per cent tariff threat for a month. That may be the end of it, for Trump is opening trade wars on many other fronts – but when somebody says they’re going to hurt you, it’s wise to take precautions. Not one Canadian in 10 would freely choose to become part of the angry, divided society to the south, but they may have to endure a long, miserable economic siege to avoid it. Everybody else will sympathize, but nobody will or even can help much as Trump batters at the door. And at some point, Canadians may even have to “blow the bridges,” at least metaphorically. Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist based in London, England. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks. The action you just performed triggered the security solution. There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase, a SQL command or malformed data. You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked. Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page. Premier Danielle Smith heads back into the “lion’s den” Thursday to speak to American conservatives at an event in Florida podcaster who has said Canada is a “silly country” that should be annexed without voting rights for citizens Who says these visits to the States aren’t political Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links The next issue of Noon News Roundup will soon be in your inbox Smith and Shapiro are the keynote speakers at a $1,500 per ticket fundraiser for PragerU a right-wing producer of educational material for schools are not apologetic about Smith attending at government expense officials to delay tariffs until after the election in order to help Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives That looks like asking a foreign government to influence a Canadian election “The Premier of Alberta going into the lion’s den to try and convince U.S decision-makers to cancel or even delay tariffs for as long as possible until our country is in a better position to defend ourselves with a strong leader is not only noble — it’s as Albertan and Canadian as it gets “The Liberal/NDP lefties losing their minds over it are cowards — hiding from the fight and using tariffs to strike fear in the very Canadians fighting to keep the tariffs from being implemented “It’s a disgusting display that Albertans won’t soon forget.” who until recently was a powerful salesman of contempt and disrespect for Canada His rant begins at the 40-minute mark with a full-on blast at Justin Trudeau He also quotes and ridicules Green party Leader Elizabeth May but he’d started talking about taking over Canada Shapiro said: “Trump has basically proposed that we annex Canada and I feel like they will greet us as liberators at this point because Justin Trudeau is just absolutely the worst “I’ve noticed that the Canadians have become quite humourless about this Let’s expand the real estate holdings of the United States “Everything we’re saying about Canada is true It’s a silly country that makes maple syrup “Donald Trump called Justin Trudeau the governor of our 51st state “I’m not saying Canadians should vote in American elections we can annex it and then just call it an outlying territory or something like Puerto Rico Shapiro was set off by Trudeau’s unwise statement about America rejecting another female presidential candidate Shapiro said Poilievre can’t win soon enough was for Liberal Canada as much as Canada itself Shapiro was suddenly reposting Poilievre statements and changed his tune about Canada completely “Treating them as such is not a wise move,” Shapiro added He’s very keen to change our government’s stripes she obviously tries to sell Conservative Canada as a true ally worth preserving Her strategy is guaranteed to be hugely controversial especially when it tangles her up with characters like Shapiro Don Braid’s column appears regularly in the Herald This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy It’s the world’s largest human rights event marked annually on International Human Rights Day We in the GTA will be joining Amnesty supporters in over 170 countries to support 9 individuals or groups (including one in Canada) They need massive pressure from us to protect them from the most serious violations of their human rights We’ll be writing to the governments responsible for upholding those rights And we’ll be sending greetings to the individuals and groups themselves Solidarity and hope: what special gifts we can deliver Drop into the Centre for Social Innovation at 720 Bathurst (just south of the Bathurst subway station) any time between 11 am and 5:30 pm on Saturday Can’t join us? Head to the Write for Rights campaign page any time before the end of February to see how you can still participate. We guarantee it will be a solid antidote to the dark news from many areas of our world. We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website. You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings. This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings. If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again. The accusation about fentanyl is preposterous, since the total amount intercepted at the Canadian-U.S. border in the last year is far less than one per cent of the amount stopped at the Mexican-U.S. border. As for the alleged border-crossers, why would any migrant safely in Canada (generous to asylum seekers, gun control, universal health care, few crazies, pretty relaxed about race) want to sneak into the U.S. (deportations, medical bankruptcies, guns everywhere, racism rampant, and “Christian nationalists” in charge)? Trump must have some other motive for including Canada in the top three targets on his tariff hit list with Mexico and China. What could it be? For want of any more convincing motive, Trump’s oft-repeated intention to annex Canada must be taken seriously. So far, he continues to say he’ll achieve this exclusively by “economic pressure.” and Canadians will cling to this assurance — but don’t bet the farm on it. It’s a waste of time to rebut Trump’s lies and distortions line by line — there’s one in almost every sentence — but three things are worth noting. First, Canada’s geography means the only country that can pose a direct military threat to it is the U.S. Second, there is no U.S. subsidy of any kind to the Canadian economy. And third, he really means it. I’m certainly not suggesting Trump has a plan to invade Canada, or even (as he claims) a step-by-step strategy for squeezing Canada economically until it surrenders its sovereignty. Neither do I think he will necessarily succeed in his ambition. But I am saying he poses an existential threat to the Canadian confederation. Trump is even more ignorant than Bush, and certainly more impulsive. He already has begun economic pressure on Canada, which was ready to respond with like-for-like tariffs until Trump suspended his 25 per cent tariff threat for a month. That may be the end of it, for Trump is opening trade wars on many other fronts — but when somebody says they’re going to hurt you, it’s wise to take precautions. This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau warned business leaders at an economic summit on Friday that US president Donald Trump’s comments about annexing Canada should be taken seriously citing America’s growing interest in Canada’s rich supply of critical minerals A BNN Bloomberg report noted that Canada is home to nearly three dozen critical minerals essential for mobile phones Speaking at the Canada-US Economic Summit in Toronto Trudeau told executives and policymakers that Trump’s push for Canada to become the 51st state was “a real thing.” His remarks “They’re very aware of our resources and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” Trudeau reportedly said Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada could avoid US tariffs by joining the country While Canadian officials initially dismissed the statements as jokes Trump’s subsequent pledge to use “economic force” to compel a union has raised concerns He has also called the US-Canada border an “artificially drawn line.” 1 by signing an order imposing 25% tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico Trudeau’s government has pledged similar countermeasures though both countries agreed Monday to delay tariffs for 30 days to allow for negotiations “If those tariffs do end up coming in or the investigation into commerce tariffs that is scheduled for April moves forward we need to be ready to respond robustly,” Trudeau said Other Canadian political leaders have also taken Trump’s annexation rhetoric seriously British Columbia premier David Eby accused Trump of deploying a strategy to “destroy Canada’s economy” and force it into statehood Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre who has been critical of Trudeau’s economic policies dismissed the idea of Canada joining the US “Canada will never be the 51st state,” he said in a social media video Poilievre blamed Trudeau for Canada’s economic dependence on the US accusing his government of blocking resource projects that could have strengthened domestic industry The economic summit highlighted growing concerns over Canada’s reliance on the US market and the need to forge new trade relationships including Kingsdale Advisors chair Wes Hall and Linamar Corp discussed strategies to expand trade beyond North America president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association emphasized the urgency of trade diversification “It should have happened 20 years ago but the one thing that nobody in that room downstairs can build is a time machine So we’re starting right now,” he said Volpe acknowledged the challenges of shifting Canada’s export markets but suggested even a modest increase in trade with Europe and Asia could help “The best business case is always north-south,” he said he noted that shifting 5% to 10% of Canada’s exports to other markets is a way for the country to “get a win out of efforts like this.” This website uses cookies to improve and promote our services. By continuing to use this website you are agreeing to our Cookie policy. Compelling young artist has performed worldwide and won prizes at the National Chopin Piano Competition Genre-spanning international and local talents take to North Shore venues in BlueShore at CapU and Vancouver International Jazz Festival presentation Program includes an Emily Carr–inspired piece by Tawnie Olson a composition about a satellite falling out of orbit by Chris Sivak Vancouver director interweaves archival footage and mesmerizing music in tribute to late Punjabi-Black artist updated production adds depth and nuance to the iconic work Another 30 concerts will take place at Performance Works and the Revue Stage from June 20 to July 1 Tanzania’s Zawose Queens and Congo’s Les Mamans du Congo x Rrobin rub shoulders with Canadian names like Elisapie and Ocie Elliott at ʔəy̓alməxʷ Jericho Beach Park program draws on previously performed works by Bach Vetta Chamber Music’s artistic director is joined by talented colleagues for a season-closing program of Haydn Virtuosic singer and dancer takes the intoxicating sounds of early Afro-funk and soul in exciting new directions The choir’s long-time artistic director hopes the upcoming concert will open new ears to choral music’s powers to heal and create community Adult and children’s choirs perform hits by the Beatles and Broadway favourites from musicals like Mamma Mia Yasko Sato and Karen Chia-Ling Ho navigate the emotional toll of Vancouver Opera’s post–Second World War–set tragedy which features selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn) works from the 17th century and the present day mingle in this exploration of the musical riches of Venice Veteran singer Norma Winstone and drummer Joe LaBarbera join the trio to deliver exciting new perspectives on familiar tunes Offerings include Downtown Jazz concerts on June 21 and 22 Bentall Centre happy-hour shows from June 23 to 27 Tawnie Olson’s “Beloved of the Sky” and Andrew Balfour’s “Kiyam” accompany a new work by laura hawley on the program and more musicians to perform world-class compositions at RockRidge Canyon lakeside resort All-Canadian production by Sound the Alarm: Music/Theatre features iconic hits from Disney and Hollywood musicals The young ensemble revisits and reinvigorates repertoire with an energy that breaks through classical solemnity Email us at hello@createastir.ca and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples including the territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations What is Stir?Support StirDiversity & InclusionAdvertisingRSS FEED Legal | Site Credits We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page PoliticsTrudeau Tells CEOs Trump Wants to Annex Canada for Critical MineralsBy Geoffrey MorganPublished: February 07, 2025 at 1:20PM EST (Bloomberg) -- Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks global trade. Sign up here. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told executives gathered at an economic summit on Friday that he believes US President Donald Trump’s desire to annex the northern nation “is a real thing” due to its abundance of critical minerals. Trudeau made the remarks to dozens of business leaders and policymakers gathered in Toronto to discuss how Canada can diversify trade away from the US given Trump’s tariff threats. The comments were confirmed by a senior government official who asked not to be identified discussing the closed-door meeting. Since his election in November, Trump has repeatedly said Canada could avoid tariffs by becoming the 51st state. While the Trudeau government initially brushed off the comment as a joke, the jab took on a more menacing tone after Trump pledged in January to use “economic force” to compel the union and dismissed the border as an “artificially drawn line.” Canada is rich in nearly three dozen critical minerals that are essential to modern technology, including mobile phones, electric vehicle batteries and defense applications. The country’s Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was in Washington, DC, this week, urging the US to partner with Canada on mining projects to erode China’s dominance in the sector.  The Toronto Star first reported on Trudeau’s remarks, which were made after media were asked to leave the room. “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” Trudeau said in response to a question, according to the Star. “But Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing.” Other political leaders in Canada have also said they are taking Trump’s annexation remarks seriously. British Columbia Premier David Eby said Monday that Trump is deploying a deliberate strategy to “destroy Canada’s economy” and drive it into becoming the 51st state. Federal New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh also views the sovereignty threat as real. Trump signed an order Feb. 1 to put 25% tariffs on most of what Canada and Mexico sell to the US, upending the countries’ longstanding trade agreement. Trudeau’s government responded by pledging similar levies.  On Monday, the two countries agreed to delay the tariffs for 30 days. But the threat of a broader trade war remains, as one of Trump’s first executive orders after inauguration asked officials to investigate and report back on the state of US trade relationships by April 1.  “If those tariffs do end up coming in or the investigation into commerce tariffs that is scheduled for April moves forward, we need to be ready to respond robustly,” Trudeau said in public remarks at the economic summit, adding the country faces “what may be a more challenging long-term political situation with the United States.” Executives attending Friday’s event included Kingsdale Advisors Chair Wes Hall, Linamar Corp. Executive Chair Linda Hasenfratz and Peter Tertzakian, an energy economist who is the founder of the ARC Energy Research Institute.  The summit, at a former brickworks factory-turned meeting space, underscores a broader concern in Canada that the country needs to urgently shift trade patterns and forge new international relationships in response to Trump’s policies.  “It should have happened 20 years ago, but the one thing that nobody in that room downstairs can build is a time machine. So we’re starting right now,” Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said on the sidelines of the summit. Volpe said his industry, which supplies auto parts to the likes of Stellantis NV, General Motors Co. and others at assembly plants in Canada and the US, is unlikely to be able to diversify exports to Asia or Europe. Still, he said other industries should make a push to trade “east-west” rather than only shipping goods to the US. “The best business case is always north-south,” he said, but shifting 5% to 10% of Canada’s exports to other markets is a way for the country to “get a win out of efforts like this.” Anita Anand, the minister of transport and internal trade, agreed. “We have to make sure that we are trading with multiple partners in multiple locations,” she said. “Canada is the only G-7 country that has a free trade agreement with every other G-7 country.” “Canada will never be the 51st state,” Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a video posted to social media, promising a “strong, independent, sovereign country” if he wins the next election.  Trudeau deserves blame for Canada’s reliance on the US market, he said. “They have blocked resource projects in Canada, forcing us to give our raw materials to the Americans without keeping the jobs here,” Poilievre said.  (Adds a comment from the Conservative leader in final paragraphs.) Shipowners Company news Statutes and Rules Submissions included papers from the International Chamber of Shipping INTERTANKO and other industry associations and the prospect of assessing fees based on fleet composition was dropped The industry has been apprehensive concerning which entity would ultimately be liable for payment of the assessed fees the party responsible for payment of any fees will likely be determined by the charterparty clauses The stated purpose of the fees is to reverse Chinese dominance of shipping and to provide an incentive for building more ships in the US takes effect gradually from 14 October 2025 with subsequent increases happening every 17 April through 2028 Chinese vessel operators and vessel owners (Annex I) There is a phased fee starting at USD 50/net ton and increasing over three years to USD 140/net ton The fee will apply per rotation or string of US port calls the fee is not charged for each separate call if the vessel calls at multiple US ports in succession The definition of Chinese vessel operators and owners is widely drawn but is defined as those entities listed under the respective headings on the Vessel Entrance or Clearance Statement form it is the vessel operator who must pay the assessed fees There is a fee based on the net tonnage of the vessel (USD 18/net ton) or a fee per container discharged (USD 120/container) (whichever figure is higher) increasing over three years to USD 33/net ton and USD 250/container discharged This annex puts the onus for payment on the vessel owner The fee will be cancelled or remitted if the owner orders and takes delivery of a US-built vessel of equivalent or greater net tonnage within three years Vessels that are controlled by US persons and 75% beneficially owned by US persons US owned/flagged vessels enrolled in various programs for the US government or an individual bulk capacity of 80,000 dwt Voyages of less than 2,000nm from a foreign port or point A fee is payable of USD 150 per Car Equivalent Unit (CEU) capacity of the vessel There is a similar suspension or remission if the owner orders and takes delivery of a US-built vessel of equivalent or greater CEU the vessel operator is responsible for payment the fee will be suspended/remitted if the owner orders and receives a US-built vessel of equivalent or greater size within three years From 2028 there will be a restriction requiring the use of US vessels for the transport of a certain proportion of LNG exports LNG export licenses may be suspended for exporters who fail to comply with this This annex contains a similar fee suspension based on the order and delivery of US-built vessels on the back of Executive Order 14269 – Restoring America’s Maritime Dominance the US Trade Representative (USTR) has proposed new tariffs on ship-to-shore (STS) Cranes and cargo handling equipment made in China or containing Chinese parts (Annex V) the USTR is also asking for public input on possible tariffs for containers Comments can be submitted until the hearing date 19 May and requests to testify at the hearing must be submitted by 8 May The Executive Order also aims to discourage circumvention of the fees and tariffs It requires that any foreign cargo entering Canada or Mexico and then transported into the US by land must pay the required fees plus interest and a 10 per cent service charge While the Executive Order specifically refers to the collection of the Harbor Maintenance Fee it is not clear yet what other fees may be charged at the land border it leaves open the potential for additional fees as outlined above .css-ql7t40{font-family:var(--chakra-fonts-anchor-font-family-default);line-height:1.5rem;color:var(--chakra-colors-anchor-gray-70);}LinkedIn Police are investigating the suspicious death of a man in his 20s following an early morning incident in the Annex Investigators say they were called to the Bloor Street and Madison Avenue area near the University of Toronto just after 12:30 a.m on Sunday for what they describe as a “wounding.” When they arrived they found a man suffering from life-threatening injuries He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead Photos from the scene show a large area cordoned off by police tape and evidence markers on the ground near Paul Martel Park There are also evidence markers at a secondary scene near Bloor and Spadina Police believe three suspects were involved in the incident but no descriptions were released and officers did not indicate what type of weapon was used to inflict the man’s injuries The homicide unit has been called in to take over the investigation weather and video from CityNews Toronto anywhere you are – across all Android and iOS devices.