TRENTON( WNAM MONITORING): Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Tuesday that she gave a “wake-up call” to European leaders about the peril to Canada posed by US President Donald Trump’s administration.
During her recent tour of Europe, she discovered that many leaders were unaware of the political situation in the US and in Canada.
“Based on my conversations with many European colleagues, many of them are not necessarily completely aware of what is going on, first in the US and second in Canada,” she said during a press briefing in Brussels.
She added that those who were aware of Trump’s threats of tariffs and annexation of Canada have not spoken out because “Europe has its own challenges” posed by the US.
“It was necessary for me to be in Europe to tell them exactly what’s going on, to make sure that we would co-ordinate on any form of response to tariffs, and that we would be together defending our national security and sovereignty,” she said.
Joly’s comments were made after a week-long tour to France, Germany and Belgium.
She also warned European leaders earlier that “you’re next” to face Trump’s tariff threats.
While in Europe, she attended the Munich Security Conference and had to chastise an American delegation of senators who made jokes about Trump’s desire to make Canada the 51st state.
“What I said to the American delegation when some senators were making jokes about it.. I said it’s not funny,” she said.
“This is a question of respect of our country, respect to our leaders and respect of our people,” she added. “We will never be a state, and we will never be a colony.”
