Canada's new prime minister issues scathing message to Donald Trump moments after being elected
Newly-elected Canadian PM Mark Carney took just a matter of minutes to speak of President Donald Trump as he addressed the nation.
The 60-year-old will make the office his own having assumed the role from former prime minister Justin Trudeau last month after he announced his decision to step down from power after a decade at the helm.
Speaking to his supporters in Ottawa in the early hours of this morning (April 29), the Liberal Party leader said: "Humility is also about recognizing that one of the responsibilities of government is to prepare for the worst, not hope for the best.
"As I've been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country - never.
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"But these are not these are not idle threats, President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us - that will never, that will never ever happen. But we also must recognize the reality that our world has fundamentally changed."
It comes as Trump has taunted Canadians over his vision to incorporate the nation to become the 51st state of the US, even teasing Trudeau with the nickname 'Governor of Canada' prior to his departure.
The 78-year-old Republican has claimed Canada 'only works as a state' because America is 'spending $200 billion a year to subsidize it', although conceding that it could the US' 'greatest state' if it was to join forces.
"We are over the shock of the American betrayal but we should never forget the lessons, we have to look out for ourselves and above all we have to take care of each other," Carney continued.
"When I sit down with President Trump it will be to discuss the future economic and security relationship between two sovereign nations, and it will be with our full knowledge that we have many, many other options than the United States to build prosperity for all Canadians."
He went on to remind Canada what Canadians have built on a united front, before adding: "Now in the face of this crisis, united we are buying Canadian.
"We are exploring everything this country has to offer, we are supporting our friends and neighbors in the crosshairs of President Trump, through a crisis that we did not create.
"United we will win this trade war and build the strongest economy in the G7. An economy that works for everyone."
The G7, otherwise known as the Group of Seven, is an informal group of seven of the most advanced economies in the world: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.
Topics: Canada, Donald Trump, US News
Joe Yates