Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly concluded her recent tour of Europe saying she delivered a “wake-up call” to Canada’s allies across the Atlantic about the economic and political threat the Trump administration is posing to Canada.
“Based on my conversations with many European colleagues, many of them are not necessarily completely aware of what is going on, first in the U.S. and second in Canada,” she said during a call back from Brussels Tuesday.
Joly said that Europeans have not spoken out loudly against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to annex Canada or saddle our economy with tariffs because “Europe has its own challenges” in dealing with Washington.
“It was necessary for me to be in Europe to tell them exactly what’s going on, to make sure that we would co-ordinate on any form of response to tariffs, and that we would be together defending our national security and sovereignty,” she said.
“In that context, it was a wake-up call for Europeans to hear what we’re going through.”
Watch | ‘A wake-up call’ for Europeans to hear about state of U.S.-Canada relations, Joly says:
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly says her European counterparts are largely unaware of what is happening between Canada and the United States. She made the comments following a trip to France, Germany and Belgium.
Joly made the comments in Brussels, after concluding a week-long trip to France, Germany and Belgium.
While in Germany she attended the Munich Security Conference from Feb. 14 to 16, where she met with counterparts from the U.S. and Europe to discuss efforts to forge peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, and to collaborate on Arctic sovereignty.
She said there were two main purposes behind the trip: the first was to meet with European allies to discuss strengthening trade, protecting jobs and countering tariffs from the U.S.; the second was to discuss the future of European and Canadian security and find ways to work closer with Europe on defence and intelligence sharing.
The 51st state is not a joke Joly says
Joly said that while she did meet with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s threats to annex Canada, making it the 51st state, did not come up in those discussions.
The minister said that she did have to put a number of U.S. senators that were part of the U.S. delegation straight on where Canada stands on the issue of annexation.
“What I said to the American delegation when some senators were making jokes about it: I said it’s not funny,” she said.
“This is a question of respect of our country, respect to our leaders and respect of our people,” she added. “We will never be a state, and we will never be a colony.”
Joly said she met with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer but did not speak with representatives of the British monarchy about the possibility of King Charles making a public comment in defence of Canada’s sovereignty.
“We’re in close contact with the British government, Keir Starmer,” she said. “And we are definitely working with them on the question of tariffs.”
As Canada gears up to host the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta., from June 15 to 17 this year, President Trump has said he wants Russia readmitted to the group.
“I’d love to have them back,” Trump said at the White House last week. “I think it was a mistake to throw them out. Look, it’s not a question of liking Russia or not liking Russia. It was the G8.”
Russia was tossed out of the G8 in March 2014 following the annexation of Crimea.
Asked if Canada would consider allowing Russia back to the table, Joly said “no way.”
