Canada鈥檚 ambassador to France says United States President Donald Trump鈥檚 invasion threats violate international law.
鈥淚鈥檓 just saying that in order to respect international law, you don鈥檛 threaten your neighbours by invasion,鈥� St茅phane Dion said Monday at Canada鈥檚 embassy in Paris, one day after Trump said he would impose 25 per cent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports 鈥� including imports from Canada.
Trump has said he wouldn鈥檛 rule out using military force to take over Greenland, which is part of Denmark.
In January, Trump threatened to use 鈥渆conomic force鈥� to annex Canada. He said again Sunday that he wants to see Canada become a U.S. state, after being asked about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau鈥檚 recent claim that Trump is not joking about annexation.
In response to a question about Greenland, Dion said such threats are not normal and violate the UN Charter. He said that merely threatening to invade another country is a violation of international law.
Trudeau is in Paris to attend a global summit on artificial intelligence. Late Sunday evening, following a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trudeau did not answer reporters鈥� questions about Trump鈥檚 recent statements.
Dion said Canada and European countries are working on a cohesive strategy to address Trump鈥檚 tariff threats.
鈥淐anada and Mexico are the first ones, but Europeans know that they may be targeted as well,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e anticipating that. They are working with us about how can we have a cohesive way to convince the U.S. administration that trade wars are painful for everyone 鈥� and not something that you should do between friends.鈥�
U.S. Vice President JD Vance is also in Paris for the AI Action Summit. It鈥檚 not clear if he will meet with Trudeau; no meeting has been announced to date.
Last week, both Canada and Mexico were granted month-long reprieves from Trump鈥檚 threatened broad-based tariffs.
On Wednesday, Trudeau will travel to Brussels to meet with EU leaders 鈥� an opportunity for Canada to shore up its relationship with the European Union in the face of Trump鈥檚 threats.
Dion told reporters Monday that Canada won鈥檛 be successful in trade diversification unless that effort includes Europe.
鈥淣ow that we see that unfortunately, for now at least, the U.S. administration is not as reliable as we thought, not respecting treaties as we thought, we need Europeans and Canadians to work very closely together,鈥� he said.
