Trudeau Says Trump Talk of Absorbing Canada Is ‘A Real Thing’, Paper Says

 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to business and labor leaders on investment, trade and international markets amid the looming threat of US protectionism in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to business and labor leaders on investment, trade and international markets amid the looming threat of US protectionism in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 7, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trudeau Says Trump Talk of Absorbing Canada Is ‘A Real Thing’, Paper Says

 Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to business and labor leaders on investment, trade and international markets amid the looming threat of US protectionism in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 7, 2025. (Reuters)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks to business and labor leaders on investment, trade and international markets amid the looming threat of US protectionism in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, February 7, 2025. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said US President Donald Trump's talk about absorbing Canada "is a real thing" and is linked to the country's rich natural resources, the Toronto Star reported.

Trudeau made the remarks during a closed-door session of business and labor leaders on how best to respond to Trump's threats of tariffs on Canadian imports. His comments were mistakenly carried by a loudspeaker, the paper said.

Trump has repeatedly suggested Canada would be better off if it agreed to become the 51st US state.

"They're very aware of our resources, of what we have and they very much want to be able to benefit from those," the Star quoted Trudeau as saying.

"But Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country. And it is a real thing."

Trudeau's office did not respond to a request about the reported remarks.

Canada, seeking to fend off US measures, has stressed it is a trusted partner and a major supplier of oil, minerals and other natural resources.

In remarks open to reporters, Trudeau had earlier said Canada could face long-term political challenges with the United States even if it manages to avert Trump's threat of tariffs.

Trump on Monday said he would delay the imposition of tariffs on Canadian exports by 30 days in return for concessions on border and crime enforcement, in particular cracking down on fentanyl smuggling.

Trudeau said Ottawa's immediate challenge was to persuade Washington that Canada was doing all it could to combat the flow of fentanyl. Public data shows 0.2% of all the supply of the drug seized in the US comes from the Canadian border.

If tariffs were imposed, Canada would respond in kind, but its goal would always be to have the measures removed as fast as possible, Trudeau told business and labor leaders at the start of the meeting on how to diversify trade and boost the economy.

"The strategic reflection we have to have right now is ... how we get through, and thrive, and grow stronger over the next four years and into what may be a more challenging long-term political situation with the United States?" he said.

Peter Navarro, a senior Trump trade adviser, this week said Canada had become a leading source of small, duty-free shipments of drugs, also had "big" visa issues and had let people on the "terrorism watch list" enter the United States.

Canada sends 75% of all goods and services exports south of the border, making it highly vulnerable to US sanctions.

Trudeau, echoing long-standing complaints from the business community, said internal trade barriers between the 10 provinces were hampering the economy.

"This is one of those moments and opportunities where ... there's a window open because of the context we're in. We have to jump through it," he said.



Trump Says US Has Given Ukraine Too Many Weapons in First Public Comments on Pause in Shipments

A truck with mounted anti-aircraft cannon, of the of 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fires towards Russian drones and missiles during an overnight shift, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 2, 2025. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Press Service of the 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
A truck with mounted anti-aircraft cannon, of the of 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fires towards Russian drones and missiles during an overnight shift, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 2, 2025. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Press Service of the 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
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Trump Says US Has Given Ukraine Too Many Weapons in First Public Comments on Pause in Shipments

A truck with mounted anti-aircraft cannon, of the of 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fires towards Russian drones and missiles during an overnight shift, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 2, 2025. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Press Service of the 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
A truck with mounted anti-aircraft cannon, of the of 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fires towards Russian drones and missiles during an overnight shift, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 2, 2025. (Anatolii Lysianskyi/Press Service of the 127th Separate Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)

President Donald Trump complained Thursday that the United States provided too many weapons to Ukraine under the previous administration, his first public comments on the pause in some shipments as Russia escalates its latest offensive.

Speaking to reporters before boarding Air Force One for a flight to Iowa, Trump said former President Joe Biden "emptied out our whole country giving them weapons, and we have to make sure that we have enough for ourselves."

Air defense missiles, precision-guided artillery and other weapons are among those being withheld from Ukraine. The country suffered a new barrage overnight, with warnings of ballistic missiles followed by explosions in Kyiv. The sound of machine gun fire and drone engines could be heard across the capital.

Trump, who also spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, suggested he wasn't completely cutting off American assistance to Ukraine.

"We've given so many weapons," he said, adding that "we are working with them and trying to help them."

Trump said he had a "pretty long call" with Putin that "didn't make any progress" in resolving the war, which the Republican president had promised to swiftly bring to a conclusion.

"I’m not happy about that," he said.

The Kremlin described the conversation as "frank and constructive" — the sixth publicly disclosed chat between the two leaders since Trump returned to the White House.

While discussing the situation around Iran and in the broader Middle East, Putin emphasized the need to resolve all differences "exclusively by political and diplomatic means," said Yuri Ushakov, his foreign affairs adviser.

The leaders agreed that Russian and US officials will maintain contact on the issue, he added.

The United States struck three sites in Iran on June 22, inserting itself into Israel’s war aimed at destroying Tehran's nuclear program.

On the conflict in Ukraine, Ushakov said Trump emphasized his push for a quick halt to the fighting, and Putin voiced Moscow’s readiness to pursue talks with Kyiv, noting the previous rounds in Türkiye yielded humanitarian results.

At the same time, the Russian leader emphasized that Moscow will seek to achieve its goals in Ukraine and remove the "root causes" of the conflict, Ushakov said.

"Russia will not back down from these goals," Ushakov told reporters after the call.

Putin has argued he sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022 to fend off a threat to Russia posed by Ukraine's push to join NATO and to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine — arguments rejected by Kyiv and its allies. He insisted that any prospective peace deal must see Ukraine abandon its NATO bid and recognize Russia's territorial gains.

Ushakov said a suspension of some US weapons shipments to Ukraine wasn’t discussed in the Trump-Putin call.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Denmark after meeting with major European Union backers that he may talk to Trump in the coming days about the suspension.

"I hope that maybe tomorrow, or close days, these days, I will speak about it with President Trump," he said.

The previous publicly known call between Trump and Putin came June 14, a day after Israel attacked Iran.

The resumed contact between Trump and Putin appeared to reflect their interest in mending US-Russian ties that have plummeted to their lowest point since the Cold War.

Ushakov said the leaders discussed developments in Syria and expressed interest in pursuing bilateral projects in the energy sector and space exploration, during what he described as "frank, businesslike and concrete conversation."

The Kremlin adviser added that Putin even suggested that the US and Russia could exchange movies promoting "traditional values shared by us and the Trump administration."

On Tuesday, Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held their first direct telephone call in almost three years.