Canada’s ambassador to France called out U.S. President Donald Trump over his threats to invade Greenland, claiming that the remarks violated international law.
“I’m just saying that in order to respect international law, you don’t threaten your neighbours by invasion,” said Ambassador to France Stephane Dion during a press conference Monday.
Trump refused to rule out the possibility of using military force to annex Greenland earlier this month and claimed that would annex Canada by way of “economic force” to make it the 51st state.
He reiterated those comments on Sunday.
Trump was pressed on the matter after a hot mic incident went public of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the president’s desire to absorb Canada into the U.S. “a real thing” to access abundant natural resources.
When asked about Trump’s threat to impose military force on Greenland, Dion said that such threats went against international law and the UN Charter.
Trump also announced on Sunday his plans to implement his proposed 25 per-cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and Mexico, beginning Monday.
Canada and Mexico were initially granted a 30-day reprieve from U.S. tariffs.
According to Dion, Canada is working with European countries to retaliate against the U.S. tariffs.
“Canada and Mexico are the first ones, but Europeans know that they may be targeted as well,” said Dion. “We’re anticipating that. They are working with us about how can we have a cohesive way to convince the US administration that trade wars are painful for everyone… and not something that you should do between friends.”
Trudeau is scheduled to meet with E.U. leaders in Brussels on Wednesday to further discuss the issue.
Dion suggested that the prime minister take this opportunity to cozy up to European allies as they will be crucial in combating U.S. tariffs and for future international trade.
“Now that we see that unfortunately for now at least the U.S. administration is not as reliable as we thought, not respecting treaties as we thought, we need Europeans and Canadians to work very closely together,” said Dion.