U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his frequently-voiced desire to acquire Canada and Greenland on Thursday — this time with the leader of NATO sitting next to him.
“I think it will happen,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about the U.S. taking over Greenland during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.
“I’m sitting with a man that could be very instrumental — you know Mark, we need that for international security,” he continued, turning to Rutte.
The secretary-general said he did not “want to drag NATO into” a conversation about the U.S. acquiring Greenland, but acknowledged the importance of Arctic security and northern countries working together “under U.S. leadership” to combat China and Russia.
Asked about tariffs on Canada, Trump spoke of his grievances with Canadian trade and returned to his call to make Canada the 51st U.S. state.
“This would be the most incredible country visually,” he said. “If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it, between Canada and the U.S., just a straight artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many many decades ago, and it makes no sense.”
Rutte said nothing about the possibility of the U.S. threatening the border of a founding NATO member. Greenland is a part of Denmark, another NATO ally, but is an autonomous territory with its own government.
Trump spoke just moments after his nominee for ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, told senators at his confirmation hearing that “Canada is a sovereign state” and stressed the importance of the historical bilateral relationship.
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal officials were in Washington on Thursday to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss a path forward for trade and tariffs.
The Canada-U.S. relationship was also set to be discussed at a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Quebec the same day.
Canadian officials, including incoming prime minister Mark Carney, have repeatedly stressed that Canada will never become a part of the U.S.
Trump’s threats have also sparked a wave of patriotism among Canadians, with polls showing almost 70 per cent think less of Americans as a result of increasing tariffs.
Trump told reporters he won’t change his mind and abandon his tariffs, including “reciprocal” duties set to begin April 2, despite Thursday’s visit by Canadian officials.
Other allied world leaders have declined to voice concerns about Trump’s threats against Canada’s sovereignty when appearing next to him.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer accused a reporter of “trying to find a divide between us that doesn’t exist” when asked about the issue during a press conference with Trump at the White House last month.
Asked directly in the British Parliament on Wednesday if he will travel to Canada “as soon as possible” to show support amid Trump’s attacks and tariffs, Starmer said the U.K. stands with its ally.
“Canada is an ally and a very important ally too, and I have spoken to our allies on many occasions about the situation in Canada,” he responded.
In Greenland, which held parliamentary elections on Tuesday, the likely new prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen rejected Trump’s proposed takeover, a view shared by most voters.
“We don’t want to be Americans,” Nielsen told Britain’s Sky News on Wednesday.
Rutte was in Washington to meet with Trump as the U.S. president tests the strength of the military alliance, pushing members to spend more on defence and threatening to not come to the aid of those that don’t meet their spending commitments.
Canada has fallen short for years of NATO’s target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence. The federal government says it has a “clear and credible plan” to reach that threshold by 2032 or earlier, but has not released details on exactly how.
Trump has said he wants the NATO defence spending target increased to five per cent of GDP, a level no member — including the U.S. — currently meets.
Rutte has said he’s supportive of Trump’s calls for increased spending. He said on Thursday the alliance’s members need to produce more weapons and were lagging behind Russia and China.
—with a file from the Associated Press
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