Canadian ambassador to the United Nations Bob Rae on Wednesday compared President Trump’s recent comments about the “Golden Dome” missile defense program to a “protection racket.”
Trump on Tuesday said he offered Canada free Golden Dome protection if the northern neighbor agrees to join the U.S. as its 51st state.
If Canada does not agree to be annexed — and chooses instead to “remain a separate, but unequal, Nation” — the protection would cost $61 billion, Trump said.
“In another context this would called a ‘protection racket,’” Rae posted on X, responding to Trump’s comments.
“Both Canada and the United States signed the UN Charter in 1945. Article 2 of the Charter states clearly ‘The Organization is based on the sovereign equality of all nations,’” Rae wrote in a subsequent post.
“Threats to sovereign integrity also prohibited,” he added.
The remarks come as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly stressed his country would not join the U.S. under any circumstance. His recent election victory is often attributed to his firm defiance of Trump’s musings about annexing Canada.
“The prime minister has been clear at every opportunity, including in his conversations with President Trump, that Canada is an independent, sovereign nation, and it will remain one,” Carney’s office told a Canadian news outlet, in response to Trump’s remarks.
Carney’s office confirmed last week that there were “active discussions” between the two countries on existing and new security programs such as Golden Dome, the BBC reported.
“Canadians gave the prime minister a strong mandate to negotiate a comprehensive new security and economic relationship with the United States,” Audrey Champoux, a spokesperson for Carney, told the BBC.
“To that end, the prime minister and his ministers are having wide-ranging and constructive discussions with their American counterparts. These discussions naturally include strengthening [North American Aerospace Defense Command] and related initiatives such as the Golden Dome,” she said.