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Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly had one stark warning to share Wednesday: “If the U.S. can do this to us, their closest friend, then nobody is safe.”
During a press conference addressing President Donald Trump’s recent tariff retaliation against the country, Joly reiterated that Canada is “holding strong” and described the president’s actions as a “day to day fight.”
“We have done nothing to justify Trump’s attacks on our country, on our economy and our identity,” Joly said. “Canada is your best friend, best neighbor and best ally.”
“The only constant in this unjustifiable trade war seems to be President Trump’s talks of annexing our country through economic coercion,” she continued. “He called our border a fictional line and repeated his disrespectful 51st state rhetoric. Well, Canadians have made it very clear that we will not back down, and we will not give in to this coercion.”
The foreign affairs minister went on to reflect on the long-established history and relationship between America and Canada, which she described as “the envy of the world,” and called for the American public to contact their elected representatives to send “a message to the White House” and put an end to the tariff sparring match.
Joly is slated to meet Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week at a G7 meeting in Quebec. When asked by reporters Wednesday if U.S.-Canada relations would be on the meeting’s agenda, Rubio replied, “We’re going to be focused in G7 on all of those things. That’s what the meeting is about.”
“It is not a meeting about how we’re going to take over Canada,” he continued.
The president imposed a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum imports from Canada this week, and so far seems to be going full speed ahead toward his reciprocal tariff deadline on April 2 which will see a 25% tariff on another handful of goods from the country.
