It’s unlikely that Donald Trump would actually use the U.S. military to invade Canada, his National Security Advisor insists.
Mike Waltz said Sunday that there aren’t current plans to annex the northern neighbors.
Trump has talked about the U.S. acquiring a few different foreign entities – including the country of Canada, Danish territory of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
During a press conference last month at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters he would not use the military to take Canada. But he did not rule out doing the same with Greenland and the Canal in Central America.
‘I don’t think there’s any plans to invade Canada, if that’s what you’re talking about,’ the former congressman and Trump’s NSA told NBC’s Meet the Press host Kristen Welker.
President Trump has repeatedly brought up the idea of making Canada the 51st U.S. state amid a feud with outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The current Canadian PM, who announced last month his intention to step aside as the Liberal Party’s leader, warned in closed-door meetings that Trump is not joking about taking over Canada and making it part of the U.S.
In late November, Trump had a meeting at Mar-a-Lago with Trudeau after announcing on social media his plans to impose a 25 percent tariff in retaliation for refusing to address drug and human trafficking concerns at the border it shares with the U.S.
This is where he first proposed Canada becoming a state if it couldn’t handle the economic sanction.
Before retaking his oath of office last month, Trump assured reporters that he would not use troops and military force to take the country, but didn’t rule out ‘economic force’ at the time.
And after announcing tariffs on Canada and Mexico, the administration then halted implementing the tax in order to provide more time for the countries to negotiate and enact policies to help at the border.
The suspension avoids a trade confrontation between the U.S. and Canada, which in 2022 exchanged $746 billion in goods.
‘Look, I think the Canadian people, many of them, would love to join the United States,’ Waltz said in his Sunday morning interview, claiming this would save them from tariffs and provide the people with lower taxes than they currently have in Canada.
‘I have all kinds of neighbors down in Florida that are Canadians that are escaping many of the liberal policies and have moved in,’ the NSA added.
He explained: ‘What you’re seeing is a reassertion of American leadership in the Western Hemisphere, from the Arctic all the way down to the Panama Canal. And that’s what we’re talking about, from Greenland, to Arctic security to the Panama Canal coming back under the United States.’
‘America has avoided our own hemisphere—where we have the energy, the food and the critical minerals—for way too long, and you’re seeing a reassertion of President Trump’s leadership,’ Waltz concluded.