Take the threats seriously

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/03/2025 (302 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some of Canada’s European G7 counterparts think the United States isn’t serious about making Canada America’s 51st state.

In remarks following this week’s gathering of G7 foreign ministers in the Charlevoix region of Quebec, Canada’s foreign affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, told reporters that “I think many of my colleagues coming here thought this issue was still a joke and that this had to be taken in a humorous way.”

She says she told them that “This is not a joke. Canadians are anxious. Canadians are proud people, and you are here in a sovereign country. And so therefore, we don’t expect this to be even discussed, or to be clearly not laughed at.”

It appears that Canada’s G7 European colleagues aren’t the only ones who refuse to take U.S. President Donald Trump’s expansionist ambitions and rhetoric seriously. On Thursday, he met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the White House. During a media conference in the Oval Office, Trump was asked about his government’s desire to take control of Greenland.

With Rutte sitting beside him, he responded that “I think it’ll happen … We really need Greenland for national security. You know, we have a couple of bases on Greenland already. We have quite a few soldiers there. Maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there.”

In response, Rutte said that “When it comes to Greenland, joining or not joining the U.S., I would leave that outside … this discussion because I do not want to drag NATO into that.” But he then added that Trump was “totally right” about the need to maintain a military presence in the “high north and the Arctic.”

Asked by reporters about his ambitions for Canada, Trump replied that “Canada only works as a state … It’s perfect as a great and cherished state. ‘O Canada’ the national anthem? I love it. Keep it, but it’ll be for the state — one of our greatest states.”

Rutte just stoically sat there. He clearly heard Trump’s plan for our nation but said nothing in response.

Also on Thursday, it was reported that the Trump administration has ordered American defence officials to immediately “provide credible military options to ensure fair and unfettered U.S. military and commercial access to the Panama Canal.”

To paraphrase the American poet Maya Angelou, when somebody shows you who they are and what they want, believe them.

Trump has been talking about seizing Canada, Greenland and Panama for the past several weeks, and the only people who seem to be taking his threats seriously are the Canadians, Danes (who have sovereignty over Greenland) and Panamanians.

In response to Trump’s remarks regarding Greenland on Thursday, Danish MP Rasmus Jarlov, who is also the chairman of that nation’s defence committee and Conservative spokesperson on Greenland affairs, said on social media that “We do not appreciate the (secretary general) of NATO joking with Trump about Greenland like this. It would mean war between two NATO countries. Greenland has just voted against immediate independence from Denmark and does not want to be American ever.”

Jarlov makes a valid point regarding NATO and foreign relations generally that also applies to Canada.

Trump’s incessant threats to annex Canada and Greenland violate Articles 1 and 2 of the NATO treaty that Canada, Denmark and the U.S. are each parties to. Article 4 of that document states that “The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”

Aren’t Canadians and Danes hearing such threats every day?

Beyond that, Trump’s threats against the three nations also violate Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, which says that “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

Isn’t that happening every day?

Trump’s taunting also contravenes the United Nations Declaration on Principles of International Law, which says that states should “refrain in their international relations from military, political, economic or any other form of coercion aimed against the political independence or territorial integrity of any State.” It adds that “such a threat or use of force constitutes a violation of international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”

Finally, Canada, the U.S. and Panama are each members of the Organization of American States. Article 20 of the Charter of the Organization of American States says that “No State may use or encourage the use of coercive measures of an economic or political character in order to force the sovereign will of another State and obtain from it advantages of any kind.”

Again, that is happening almost every day, and now the U.S. is drawing up plans to invade Panama.

At what point is the rest of the world going to take Trump’s threats seriously, stand up and say something? If not the NATO secretary general, who? If not our G7 colleagues and/or NATO allies, who? If not UN nations who profess to care about sovereignty and the rule of law, who?

Most importantly, if not now, when?