“I will always talk about that,” says Donald Trump about the 51st state

(Ottawa) Le président Donald Trump a mis la table en prévision de sa rencontre avec le premier ministre Mark Carney, et à en croire les propos qu’il a tenus à l’émission Meet the Press, il n’est pas exclu que la rhétorique du 51^e État soit au menu.

« Allez-vous lui parler [à Mark Carney] to make Canada on 51^e State, to annex Canada? », Inquired to the tenant of the White House the journalist Kristen Welker, of the program Meet the Press. The answer came to the second attempt.

“I will always talk about that,” said Donald Trump in an interview broadcast on Sunday. He went on with his misleading statement that the United States “subsidizes” Canada, and reaffirming that his country does not want cars, energy or timber of his neighbor to the north.

He also did not fail to recall that the Liberals of Mark Carney failed to win a majority mandate by the vote of April 28.

“He won the victory – a very tight victory, there is no majority, so I think it will make things a little difficult to manage for him. But the fact remains that he won the victory, and he is a very sympathetic man, I think, “he said.

He offered this analysis by dodging a question from the host, who asked her presidential guest if he had spoken of 51^e State during his conversation with Prime Minister Carney. The latter assured on Friday, at a press conference in Ottawa, that there was no question of it.

Mark Carney will fly to Washington DC on Monday for a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday, May 6.

“The meeting will mainly relate to current trade pressures and, more generally, to the future of the economic and security relationship between our two sovereign countries,” the office of the Canadian Prime Minister said.

No annexation by military force

President Trump, who has never excluded the possibility of using the military force to seize Greenland, seemed to sweep this hand with hand with Canada. “I think we’ll never happen to that,” he said.

“Something could happen with Greenland-I’m going to be honest, we need it for national and international security-but I think it’s highly improbable … I don’t see that for Canada … I don’t see it happening, to be honest with you,” he said with a little laugh.

He concluded this interview segment by reproaching Canada again for not paying his fair share within NATO, and to rely in the United States to defend them militarily. “They think we are going to protect them, and really, we do,” he denounced.