Canadian PM speaks out on possible US invasion and war as he makes haunting admission
Mark Carney has discussed Canada's turbulent relationship with America and if he thinks there's a risk of there being military action carried out by either country.
Canada and America might be neighbors, but they've hardly been neighborly with one another over the last few months.
Carney and Trump have long been arguing about trade, with the POTUS having slapped Canada with 50 percent tariffs last month on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods.
Canada – which is the biggest foreign supplier of steel and aluminium to America – went on to respond by bringing in 50 percent tariffs on $27.6 billion in products imported from the US on September 8.
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An expert warned that these tit-for-tat tariffs could cause something similar to the Great Depression.
Trump and Carney have been trying to talk things through, but trade talks keep failing.
As tensions continue to rise between them, Carney admitted that there is a risk that Trump order military action against Canada.
Speaking to The New York Times, Carney said he had prepared over the past year for the 'extreme tail risk' that Trump would strike his country, but they've since spoken 'frequently' – even since their most recent trade talks collapsed again.
A big part of this risk is Trump wanting Canada to become America's 51st state. When asked if he takes his threats seriously, Carney shared: "I think you have a responsibility in these roles to look at extreme tail risk. That’s just risk management. That’s not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to prepare."
He thinks he has a 'good relationship' with the POTUS though, in light of his constant communication with Trump.
"From my perspective, we have a good relationship in the sense of we can pick up the phone and talk to each other about issue," Carney said, adding: "He’s direct. I’m direct in terms of where positions are. It’s much more efficient that way, and so you know that exists and that will continue to exist."
Last month, Carney outlined the things he wishes to achieve for Canada – and it's likely he's echoed similar sentiments to Trump.
Carney listed the objectives of his negotiations with the US (as per his official website):
- Preserve tariff-free access to the US for the vast majority of Canadian business
- Provide greater stability to our trade relationship
- Significantly reduce US tariffs on our key strategic industries, so that Canadian businesses in these sectors would have the best access of any in the world
- Protect our small and medium-sized businesses – the lifeblood of our economy – including by removing the imminent threat of new tariffs; and
- Maintain our flexibility, independence, and sovereignty so we can keep building the Canada we want
It's believed that the next steps for both Canada and the US is that Carney will continue to try make Canada less dependent on its neighbor. However, with his supposed 'good relationship' with Trump, there's a good chance they'll try host more trade talks.
Topics: Mark Carney, Donald Trump, Politics, Canada, US News
Niamh Shackleton