Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is not worried about U.S. President Donald Trump’s previous threats about annexing Canada in light of U.S. military action in Venezuela that led to the capture of that country’s ousted president over the weekend.
“It’s not going to frighten me. It shouldn’t frighten anyone in Canada,” Ford told reporters Monday.
Trump announced on Saturday that the U.S. military had infiltrated Venezuela and apprehended ousted president Nicolás Maduro to stand trial in the U.S. Maduro entered a plea of not guilty to all charges during a court appearance in New York City on Monday on drug-trafficking charges.
Venezuela’s vice president and oil minister Delcy Rodriguez has since been sworn in as the country’s interim president.
However, over the weekend, Trump said the United States would “run” the country until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” can be ensured. He also said plainly that he planned to extract its oil resources.
Trump has, in the past, suggested that Canada should become the 51st state instead of being a separate country and has said he would use economic coercion to make it happen.
He has since imposed tariffs on Canada and said he wants to obtain a better deal for the U.S. when the Canada-U.S.-Mexico (CUSMA) agreement is renegotiated this year.
“What he (Trump) should be focusing on is getting a deal done,” Ford said. “We’re their number one customer. They’re our number one customer. There isn’t a governor, Republican or Democrat, senator or congressperson that doesn’t agree. You can’t unscramble an egg that’s been around and integrated for decades, you got to make the omelette larger.”
Ford won his third term in March on a promise to protect Ontario from the impacts of the trade war. He has frequently appeared on U.S. television networks to slam the tariffs and promote free trade, and even launched an ad campaign featuring Ronald Reagan that infuriated Trump and caused a temporary break-off in trade negotiations between the two countries.
But Ford said Monday he’s not worried that the U.S. could set its sights on Canadian resources and make a play for the country given its apparent willingness to take control of other countries.
“I’m not going to worry about President Trump. I’m going to worry about what we can do, how we can diversify our trade around the world and start shipping more goods and products and our energy,” Ford said.
In his address to the media Monday, Ford emphasized that his government has a mandate to protect the province from tariffs and is acting to do so, in part, by aggressively pursuing the development of mining and energy resources, saying the province plans to move like “greased lightning” to get the projects built.
He added that in fact, Trump had done Canada one favour.
“If there was one thing, only one thing President Trump has done that’s good for Canada: He woke us up, he woke us up, and he’s united us,” Ford said. “So that’s the best thing President Trump could have ever done. And we’re going to go full steam.”
