By Sean Boynton Global News
Posted March 13, 2025 1:10 pm
Updated March 14, 2025 1:27 pm

U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his frequently-voiced desire to acquire Canada and Greenland on Thursday — this time with the leader of NATO sitting next to him.

“I think it will happen,” Trump said when asked by a reporter about the U.S. taking over Greenland during an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“I’m sitting with a man that could be very instrumental — you know Mark, we need that for international security,” he continued, turning to Rutte.

The secretary-general said he did not “want to drag NATO into” a conversation about the U.S. acquiring Greenland, but acknowledged the importance of Arctic security and northern countries working together “under U.S. leadership” to combat China and Russia.

READ MORE: ‘Enough is enough’: Greenland rejects Trump’s takeover talk — again

Asked about tariffs on Canada, Trump spoke of his grievances with Canadian trade and returned to his call to make Canada the 51st U.S. state.

“This would be the most incredible country visually,” he said. “If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it, between Canada and the U.S., just a straight artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many many decades ago, and it makes no sense.”

Rutte said nothing about the possibility of the U.S. threatening the border of a founding NATO member. Greenland is a part of Denmark, another NATO ally, but is an autonomous territory with its own government.

Trump spoke just moments after his nominee for ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, told senators at his confirmation hearing that “Canada is a sovereign state” and stressed the importance of the historical bilateral relationship.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford and federal officials were in Washington on Thursday to meet with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to discuss a path forward for trade and tariffs.

The Canada-U.S. relationship was also set to be discussed at a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Quebec the same day.

Canadian officials, including incoming prime minister Mark Carney, have repeatedly stressed that Canada will never become a part of the U.S.

Trump’s threats have also sparked a wave of patriotism among Canadians, with polls showing almost 70 per cent think less of Americans as a result of increasing tariffs.

Trump told reporters he won’t change his mind and abandon his tariffs, including “reciprocal” duties set to begin April 2, despite Thursday’s visit by Canadian officials.

The Canada-U.S. relationship was also set to be discussed at a meeting of the G7 foreign ministers in Quebec the same day.

Canadian officials, including incoming prime minister Mark Carney, have repeatedly stressed that Canada will never become a part of the U.S.

Trump’s threats have also sparked a wave of patriotism among Canadians, with polls showing almost 70 per cent think less of Americans as a result of increasing tariffs.

Trump told reporters he won’t change his mind and abandon his tariffs, including “reciprocal” duties set to begin April 2, despite Thursday’s visit by Canadian officials.

Asked directly in the British Parliament on Wednesday if he will travel to Canada “as soon as possible” to show support amid Trump’s attacks and tariffs, Starmer said the U.K. stands with its ally.

“Canada is an ally and a very important ally too, and I have spoken to our allies on many occasions about the situation in Canada,” he responded.

In Greenland, which held parliamentary elections on Tuesday, the likely new prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen rejected Trump’s proposed takeover, a view shared by most voters.

“We don’t want to be Americans,” Nielsen told Britain’s Sky News on Wednesday.

Rutte was in Washington to meet with Trump as the U.S. president tests the strength of the military alliance, pushing members to spend more on defence and threatening to not come to the aid of those that don’t meet their spending commitments.

Canada has fallen short for years of NATO’s target of spending at least two per cent of GDP on defence. The federal government says it has a “clear and credible plan” to reach that threshold by 2032 or earlier, but has not released details on exactly how.

Trump has said he wants the NATO defence spending target increased to five per cent of GDP, a level no member — including the U.S. — currently meets.

Rutte has said he’s supportive of Trump’s calls for increased spending. He said on Thursday the alliance’s members need to produce more weapons and were lagging behind Russia and China.

—with a file from the Associated Press

#resisttrump #greenland #canada #canpol #canpolitics #uspol #uspolitics #never51 #elbowsup

Alt Text:
Two men are seated in front of a decorative fireplace. On the left is Mark Rutte, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and dark tie, laughing heartily. On the right is Donald Trump, the former President of the United States, wearing a dark suit, white shirt, and red striped tie, smiling. The fireplace behind them is adorned with ornate gold decorations, and the mantelpiece holds several gold-colored decorative items. The background features a patterned wallpaper.

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Donald Trump is seated in a formal setting, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt, and a red tie. He appears to be speaking or addressing someone. The background features an ornate, light-colored wall with intricate patterns and a decorative fireplace with gold accents.

Text and photos by Natalia Weichsel Mar. 13, 2025

A swarm of troops dressed in white and wearing snowshoes glide across a frozen valley.

Suddenly they stop, form a line, kneel and pull out their rifles. Smoke fills the air from the blanks fired at an excavator — today's stand-in for an enemy force.

Atop a nearby hill, a group of Canadian Rangers in orange vests watch the simulated attack. Huddled near a red warming tent, they wait for a signal before jumping on their snowmobiles and driving to the battleground.

If a military conflict came to Canada's North, it might look something like this.

Nearly 200 members of the 34th Canadian Brigade Group have travelled nearly 1,000 kilometres north to the Cree Nation of Chisasibi in the Eeyou Istchee from Montreal and Valcartier for an annual exercise they say is more important than ever.

In the context of rapidly shrinking sea ice in the Arctic and as United States President Donald Trump ramps up comments about annexing Canada, Ottawa is seeking to reassert its sovereignty in the North.

Last week, federal Defence Minister Bill Blair announced that spending on northern military infrastructure will increase tenfold over the next 20 years, with three operational support hubs in Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Inuvik, N.W.T. The money for the expansion had previously been allocated in the budget.

"We clearly shouldn't be relying on anyone else to defend our nation," Blair said at the announcement.

CBC and two other media organizations were invited to witness a military training exercise to better understand Canadian efforts to increase its military presence and capabilities in the Arctic.

“The hardest part was definitely the cold,” says Sgt. Matthieu Forester, lowering his neck warmer to reveal a frost-covered moustache. The deep snow also made it difficult to navigate through the valley while wearing snowshoes, he adds.

“We have to practise our techniques. We've been practising for a year to be ready for this kind of environment.”

Canada — along with its circumpolar allies — began to re-evaluate vulnerabilities in the North following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The invasion ended Arctic co-operation between Russia and those states, including Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and the U.S.

Russia and China are showing more interest in the North and its shipping routes as they both look to expand their presence in the region.

A recent Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) assessment obtained by The Canadian Press through access to information identified resource extraction projects, increasing ship traffic and the building of ports as some of the ways bad faith actors could use to gain ground in the Arctic.

“There's a lot of Russian military deployed in that region and theoretically, at least if they wanted to, they could land on any remote Canadian island and seize some territory," says Stéphane Roussel, a political science professor at the École nationale d'administration publique.

But Roussel warns of a bigger threat closer to home. He says the new American administration might want to challenge Canadian claims on some areas of the Arctic, namely the Northwest Passage.

The maritime route weaves through Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, stretching from north of Baffin Island right up until the Beaufort Sea, next to the U.S. state of Alaska. It is the longest coast Canada claims as sovereign.

In 2019, during the 11th Arctic Council ministerial meeting in Finland, former U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo accused Canada of making illegitimate claims to the Northwest Passage as internal waters.

“It's possible that the Trump administration wants to revive these conflicts and openly contest Canadian claims on this region,” Roussel said.
Knowledge of the land

During its week-long exercise, the brigade set up headquarters inside a building belonging to the Chisasibi Cree Nation, on the western shore of James Bay.

Canadian military activities in the Arctic and Subarctic often take place near Indigenous communities. The military says it needs their traditional knowledge and stewardship of the land more than ever.

"We don't know the maps; we don't know the people and we don't know the area," says Col. David Shane, commander of the 34th Brigade.

A group of Canadian Rangers based in Chisasibi are participating in the exercise.

Rangers are part of the Canadian Army Reserve and work in remote and isolated coastal regions of Canada. There are roughly 5,000 Canadian Rangers living in more than 220 communities across the country.

They train the Armed Forces with survival skills and traditional knowledge of the land. Rangers speak over 26 different languages and dialects, many of which are Indigenous.

Sgt. Alvin Cash, who is based in Chisasibi and is Cree, has been a Ranger for 15 years.

“Their head office is down south," Cash said, speaking about the brigade. "We are the ones actually up here providing them useful information."

“We use our own culture with how much we know the territory to provide that service and pass the information to the military," he said.

Rangers' services are helpful at home, too, Cash said — carrying out emergency search and rescue missions, conducting patrols and assisting with environmental disasters.

“We are the last resort people,” Cash said. “It's our regular mandate to always be on the lookout and we could be called in all of a sudden for a mission so we are always ready to go.”

The brigade chose the area near Chisasibi as its training ground for its winter conditions similar to the Arctic.

"It's an isolated area. The weather here is unpredictable. You could have all whiteouts," Cash said.

Though sparsely inhabited, the Arctic covers 40 per cent of the Canadian land mass, stretching over nearly four million square kilometres. The bitter cold, limited communication lines and infrastructure, as well as the absence of permanent military bases means troops have to be prepared for all kinds of situations.

“We need to be able to project our forces into an environment that nobody knows," Shane said.

When travelling north for these complex exercises, military vehicles embark on the 16-hour journey from Montreal and Valcartier, equipped with fuel, maintenance supplies and food. Snowshoes, toboggans, skis and radio antennas are also transported, along with the deployment of medical services, military planes and police.

Troops camp out in tents, preparing their food on camping stoves and learning to survive in a remote location.

The 34th Brigade reached out to Chisasibi Cree Nation Chief Daisy House last October as it was looking for a place to conduct the northern simulation.

House agreed to have the brigade use the Nation's Mitchuap building, a teepee-shaped structure with an auditorium where the brigade could set up tables with computers and maps.

“We warned the community that we'd have about 175 reservists coming among other dignitaries so that they'd be ready for that," said House. "And they said, 'we'll greet them as part of our custom and our culture to welcome guests.'"

House says community members shared traditional skills with the reservists, such as how to build a dwelling using small trees and a tarp or how to navigate Chisasibi’s 40 trap lines.

“[The land stewards] know their land more than anybody else. We cannot dictate or tell them what to do because their ancestors have been there for centuries and they know it best. And they've seen the changes and the evolution over the years,” she said.

#resisttrump #arctic #canada #canpol #canpolitics #uspol #uspolitics #never51 #elbowsup

Alt Text:
A snowy landscape with a dense forest of evergreen trees in the background. In the foreground, a group of soldiers dressed in white camouflage gear is moving through the snow. They are carrying rifles and appear to be in a tactical formation. There is a light mist or smoke in the air, partially obscuring the view of the soldiers and the trees. The scene conveys a sense of cold and military activity in a winter environment.

Alt Text:
A group of soldiers dressed in white camouflage winter gear are gathered in a snowy landscape. They are equipped with skis and snowshoes, and some are carrying rifles. The soldiers are standing near a large yellow construction vehicle, specifically a John Deere 180G LC excavator. The background features snow-covered ground and a line of trees, indicating a cold, forested environment. The soldiers appear to be engaged in a discussion or briefing.

Alt Text:
A soldier dressed in white camouflage gear is lying in the snow, aiming a rifle. The soldier is wearing a helmet and has a green tactical vest. Snowshoes are visible on the ground near the soldier's feet. The background features a snowy landscape with evergreen trees, creating a wintery forest setting.

Alt Text:
A person dressed in winter military gear stands in a snowy landscape. They are wearing a white camouflage jacket and a green balaclava covering their face, with dark ski goggles over their eyes. A communication device with a coiled wire is attached to their chest. In the background, there are snow-covered trees and a cloudy sky.

Rumors swirled that the FS Tourville arrived in Halifax in response to Donald Trump’s annexation threats

James Liddell
Friday 14 March 2025 21:55 GMT

A French nuclear-powered attack submarine left locals bewildered after it surfaced in an eastern Canadian province, just 300 miles from the U.S. border.

The French Navy Suffren-class submarine, the FS Tourville, arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia earlier this week.

Baseless claims quickly spread online that it was in response to Donald Trump’s annexation threats after the president repeatedly called on Canada to become the 51st U.S. state and named departing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “governor.” Those rumors, however, were quickly quashed.

The FS Tourville made its way across the Atlantic after the Royal Canadian Navy announced its plans to invest C$60 billion ($42 billion) to renew its aging submarine fleet, according to French national newspaper Le Parisien.

France and Canada signed a joint declaration in September, while Trump was still on the 2024 campaign trail, to strengthen their partnership in defense and security.

“A pleasure to welcome French submarine #Tourville to Halifax. Allies and friends working together. Enjoy your stay,” the office of Lieutenant Governor Nova Scotia Mike Savage wrote on X Thursday.

According to Canadian news channel CTV News, the submarine is expected to remain in the harbor until March 21.

The FS Tourville is 99 meters long, displaces 5,200 tons when submerged, and can dive to a depth greater than 350 meters.

The French naval sub is powered by a nuclear reactor, which provides substantial endurance and operational autonomy and can reach speeds of over 25 knots.

It’s armed with naval cruise missiles, F21 heavy wire-guided torpedoes, and modernized Exocet SM39 anti-ship missiles.

The stealthy and highly-equipped sub is said to be suitable in all oceans and can be out at sea for more than 270 days per year, allowing it to be used for intelligence missions.

Ottawa intends to put between six and 12 new submarines into service, with the Navy’s first replacement submarine to be delivered by 2035. A supplier is due to be selected by 2028.

The Naval Group, which finished building the FS Tourville at its Cherbourg-en-Cotentin shipyard last summer, is reportedly attempting to land the contract after a request for information from Canada last month, according to Cherbourg-based newspaper La Press de la Manche.

According to the French Embassy in Canada, the FS Tourville is expected to carry out experiments in the far north of Canada and test navigation in icy conditions.

“After experiments with basic ground-laying in the Canadian far north and navigation in ice, Franco-Canadian cooperation was strengthened with the stopover of the SNA TOURVILLE, the latest attack submarine,” Bruno Heluin, the Defense Attaché at the French Embassy in Ottawa posted on LinkedIn Monday in a post translated by Google.

“This Marine Nationale ship has just made its first transatlantic crossing. It is an excellent opportunity to share operational, human and industrial expertise. At a time when Canada is announcing that it wants to revive its submarine capacity, France can undeniably bring a unique know-how.”

“Stronger together,” he signed off.

#resisttrump #france #canada #canpol #canpolitics #uspol #uspolitics #never51 #elbowsup

Alt Text:
Five people standing in a formal setting. From left to right:

1. A woman with shoulder-length white hair, wearing a white jacket and a long black skirt.
2. A man in a dark suit with a light blue shirt and a patterned tie.
3. A man in a military uniform with various medals and decorations, wearing a light-colored jacket.
4. A woman in a navy blue military uniform with gold buttons and decorations.
5. A man in a navy blue military uniform with gold buttons and decorations.

They are standing in front of two flags: the Canadian flag and another flag with a red and white design. The setting appears to be indoors, with a large window in the background showing a view of a cityscape.

Josh Fiallo
Thu, March 13, 2025 at 11:50 a.m. MDT

The White House has asked the United States military to draw up plans for how it might seize the Panama Canal “by force,” a bombshell report revealed Thursday.

The alleged directive comes a week after President Donald Trump told lawmakers in his joint address to Congress he would be “reclaiming” the vital waterway to “further enhance our national security.”

Using troops to seize the canal is considered a “less likely” option being weighed by the White House, unnamed officials told NBC News, but is apparently not off the table.

The network reported that “how much the Panamanian military agrees to partner with the U.S.” will determine whether military action will be taken.

The courses of action the Trump administration has considered range from “simply ensuring that U.S. ships have safe passage through the canal” and letting Panama retain sole control of the canal as it has since late 1999 to “restoring total U.S. ownership and operation” of the waterway.

Other hypotheticals officials have weighed include using U.S. soldiers to secure ports in Panama, building new ports, or even dispatching the Army Corps of Engineers to operate the canal’s locks.

“There are also discussions about opening Army Jungle Schools, or training camps, in Panama, like the ones U.S. troops trained in jungle warfare until the canal was formally handed over to Panama,” Trump administration sources told NBC.

The White House did not immediately provide comment on the report when contacted by the Daily Beast.

The tiny Central American country has been a staunch ally since former President Theodore Roosevelt was the first world leader to recognize its independence in 1903.

Chinese influence at the waterway is among Trump’s biggest concerns. He claims Chinese troops are “controlling” the canal and has stated Panama is overcharging the U.S. for its use. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino has rebuffed these claims as “nonsense.”

“It’s impossible. I can’t negotiate,” Mulino said in January when asked about relinquishing control of the canal. “That is done. The canal belongs to Panama.”

The White House said placing U.S. troops in Panama would curb China’s influence there, NBC reported. In the event a regional war broke out, troops could block Chinese ships from using the waterway.

Panama’s constitution enshrines the neutrality of the 50-mile canal, which the U.S. constructed in the early 1900s before ceding control in the 1970s.

A majority of the ships using the canal are bound for the U.S. or originate from the country. If the canal were to be blocked, vessels traversing between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans would be forced to circle South America.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the canal last month and claimed he brokered a deal that would allow U.S. ships to pass through for free. Mulino quickly shot down that claim, however, and Rubio eventually clarified those were merely his “expectations.”

#trump #donaldtrump #resisttrump #uspol #uspoli #panama

Alt Text:
Aerial view of a canal lock system, likely the Panama Canal, with a large cargo ship passing through. The ship is loaded with numerous colorful shipping containers. The canal is flanked by green areas and roads, with several buildings and parking lots visible nearby. The lock gates are open, allowing the ship to move through the waterway. The surrounding area is lush with greenery, indicating a tropical environment.

#canada #usa #canpoli #canpol #uspoli #uspol #tariffs #history #buycanadian #resisttrump #never51 #elbowsup

From "Canadian History Ehx" on FB

In 1890, the Tariff Act came into place in the United States. It placed tariffs on imports of up to 50%.

While touted as a way to build American industry, there was also the hope it would force an annexation of Canada. It backfired. Let's learn more.

Put forward by William McKinley, who was a Congressman at that point, the Tariff Act put duties across imports ranging from 38% to 49.5%.

McKinley was called the Napoleon of Protection. While some items had tariffs eliminated, most had tariffs increased.

One reason for the tariffs was to force the annexation of Canada. The McKinley Tariff declined to make an exception for Canadian products.

It was hoped this would make Canada more reliant on the US market, and push Canadians to become the 45th state.

Secretary of State James G. Blaine believed that annexation would eliminate competition with Canada over fishing and timber rights. Blane co-authored the Tariff Act.

He stated of annexation: "a grander and nobler brotherly love, that may unite in the end”

British politician Lyon Playfair saw the Tariff Act for what it was. He called it a covert attack on Canada.

Both Britain and the United States believed the Tariff Act would drive Canada to join the United States.

In reality, it had the complete opposite result.

The Tariff Act instead pushed Canada to align itself more with Britain. People began to rally behind their "love for Queen, flag, and country".

Sir John A. Macdonald used the tariffs as a rallying cry in the 1891 election and was able to win another majority government.

Within two years of the Tariff Act being passed, agricultural exports to Britain from Canada went from $3.5 million to $15 million.

Produce and animal exports to Britain grew from $16 million to $24 million during that same period.

Minister of Trade and Commerce Mackenzie Bowell said:

“The McKinley Bill, instead of destroying the trade of this country, has only diverted it from the United States to England."

American consumers dealt with a sharp increase in prices.

The Republicans lost the 1890 Congressional elections, losing 93 seats while the Democrats gained 86.

In 1892, the Democrats gained control of the Senate, House and Presidency.

They then replaced the Tariff Act with a new act that lowered tariffs.

Alt Text:
The image is a collage featuring historical figures and newspaper clippings related to tariffs and political events.

On the left, there is a black-and-white portrait of a man in a suit, identified as William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States.

To the right, there is a newspaper clipping with the headline "A TRIUMPH FOR CANADIAN BARLEY," discussing the McKinley tariff bill and its effects.

Below that, another newspaper clipping reads "Cleveland Elected. McKinleyism Is Ended Forever. Tariff is a Tax. WE ARE THE PEOPLE!" indicating a political shift with the election of Grover Cleveland.

On the far right, there is a portrait of another man, identified as John A. Macdonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada.

At the bottom left, there is a section titled "Sources" with quotes from various publications:

• "USING TARIFFS TO TRY TO TURN CANADA INTO AMERICAN STATE BACKFIRED IN THE PAST" - TIME
• "PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S TARIFF MISHAP COULD BE A WARNING" - US GLOBAL INVESTORS
• "USING TARIFFS TO TRY TO ANNEX CANADA BACKFIRED IN THE 1890S" - BUNK HISTORY

The collage is branded with "Canadian History" logos in several places.

#resisttrump #tariffs #buycanadian #canpol #canpolitics #uspol #uspolitics #antifascism #elbowsup #never51

How Trump’s ‘51st State’ Canada Talk Came to Be Seen as Deadly Serious
Written by Matina Stevis-Gridneff

President Trump, in an early February call, challenged the border treaty between the two countries and told Justin Trudeau he didn’t like their shared water agreements. After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an extraordinary statement that was largely lost in the fray of the moment.

“The excuse that he’s giving for these tariffs today of fentanyl is completely bogus, completely unjustified, completely false,” Mr. Trudeau told the news media in Ottawa.

“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” he added.

This is the story of how Mr. Trudeau went from thinking Mr. Trump was joking when he referred to him as “governor” and Canada as “the 51st state” in early December to publicly stating that Canada’s closest ally and neighbor was implementing a strategy of crushing the country in order to take it over.

The February Calls

Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau spoke twice on Feb. 3, once in the morning and again in the afternoon, as part of discussions to stave off tariffs on Canadian exports.

But those early February calls were not just about tariffs.

The details of the conversations between the two leaders, and subsequent discussions among top U.S. and Canadian officials, have not been previously fully reported, and were shared with The New York Times on condition of anonymity by four people with firsthand knowledge of their content. They did not want to be publicly identified discussing a sensitive topic.

On those calls, President Trump laid out a long list of grievances he had with the trade relationship between the two countries, including Canada’s protected dairy sector, the difficulty American banks face in doing business in Canada and Canadian consumption taxes that Mr. Trump deems unfair because they make American goods more expensive.

He also brought up something much more fundamental.

He told Mr. Trudeau that he did not believe that the treaty that demarcates the border between the two countries was valid and that he wants to revise the boundary. He offered no further explanation.

The border treaty Mr. Trump referred to was established in 1908 and finalized the international boundary between Canada, then a British dominion, and the United States. Mr. Trump also mentioned revisiting the sharing of lakes and rivers between the two nations, which is regulated by a number of treaties, a topic he’s expressed interest about in the past.

Canadian officials took Mr. Trump’s comments seriously, not least because he had already publicly said he wanted to bring Canada to its knees. In a news conference on Jan. 7, before being inaugurated, Mr. Trump, responding to a question by a New York Times reporter about whether he was planning to use military force to annex Canada, said he planned to use “economic force.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

During the second Feb. 3 call, Mr. Trudeau secured a one-month postponement of those tariffs.

This week, the U.S. tariffs came into effect without a fresh reprieve on Tuesday. Canada, in return, imposed its own tariffs on U.S. exports, plunging the two nations into a trade war. (On Thursday, Mr. Trump granted Canada a temporary reprieve from those tariffs.)

Glimpses of the rupture between Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau, and of Mr. Trump’s aggressive plans for Canada, have been becoming apparent over the past few months.

The Toronto Star, a Canadian newspaper, has reported that Mr. Trump mentioned the 1908 border treaty in the early February call and other details from the conversation. And the Financial Times has reported that there are discussions in the White House about removing Canada from a crucial intelligence alliance among five nations, attributing those to a senior Trump adviser.

Doubling Down

But it wasn’t just the president talking about the border and waters with Mr. Trudeau that disturbed the Canadian side.

The persistent social media references to Canada as the 51st state and Mr. Trudeau as its governor had begun to grate both inside the Canadian government and more broadly.

While Mr. Trump’s remarks could all be bluster or a negotiating tactic to pressure Canada into concessions on trade or border security, the Canadian side no longer believes that to be so.

And the realization that the Trump administration was taking a closer and more aggressive look at the relationship, one that tracked with those threats of annexation, sank in during subsequent calls between top Trump officials and Canadian counterparts.

One such call was between Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick — who at the time had not yet been confirmed by the Senate — and Canada’s finance minister, Dominic LeBlanc. The two men had been communicating regularly since they had met at Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump’s home and club in Florida, during Mr. Trudeau’s visit there in early December.

Mr. Lutnick called Mr. LeBlanc after the leaders had spoken on Feb. 3, and issued a devastating message, according to several people familiar with the call: Mr. Trump, he said, had come to realize that the relationship between the United States and Canada was governed by a slew of agreements and treaties that were easy to abandon.

Mr. Trump was interested in doing just that, Mr. Lutnick said.

He wanted to eject Canada out of an intelligence-sharing group known as the Five Eyes that also includes Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

He wanted to tear up the Great Lakes agreements and conventions between the two nations that lay out how they share and manage Lakes Superior, Huron, Erie and Ontario. And he is also reviewing military cooperation between the two countries, particularly the North American Aerospace Defense Command.

A spokesperson for Mr. Lutnick did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Mr. LeBlanc declined to comment.

In subsequent communications between senior Canadian officials and Trump advisers, this list of topics has come up again and again, making it hard for the Canadian government to dismiss them.

The only soothing of nerves has come from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the four people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Rubio has refrained from delivering threats, and recently dismissed the idea that the United States was looking at scrapping military cooperation.

But Canada’s politicians across the spectrum, and Canadian society at large, are frayed and deeply concerned. Officials do not see the Trump administration’s threats as empty; they see a new normal when it comes to the United States.

On Thursday, at a news conference, a reporter asked Mr. Trudeau: “Your foreign affairs minister yesterday characterized all this as a psychodrama. How would you characterize it?”

“Thursday,” Mr. Trudeau quipped ruefully.

Written by Matina Stevis-Gridneff is the Canada bureau chief for The (New York) Times, leading coverage of the country.

#resisttrump #NoToFascism #tariffs #buycanadian #canpol #canpolitics #uspol #uspolitics #antifascism

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Text on a red gradient background: "Canada has two modes, I'm sorry, and you're about to be sorry."

A Canada goose and a bald eagle are facing each other on a snowy surface, appearing to be in a confrontation. The goose has its wings spread wide and its beak open, while the eagle stands firmly with its beak slightly open. The scene is captured in Burlington, Ontario, on February 23. The photograph is credited to Mervyn Sequeira, who shared it on his Instagram account @msequeiraphotography.

A fierce-looking beaver wearing a red cap with the word "CANADA" on it. The beaver is surrounded by red and white elements, including the Canadian flag and maple leaves. The text "ELBOWS UP! CANADA" is prominently displayed below the beaver. The background features a pattern of red and black maple leaves.

Red background with bold white text that reads "ELBOWS UP, CANADA". The letter "O" in "ELBOWS" is replaced with a circular logo that says "Jock Sniffer". A hockey stick is positioned diagonally, with the blade pointing towards the word "CANADA".