British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday declined to weigh in on U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated calls to make Canada the 51st state, before Trump cut off the U.K. leader’s answer entirely during a joint press conference.
Starmer was asked whether he or King Charles III was concerned about Trump’s rhetoric toward a Commonwealth member at the end of a visit to the White House that included multiple meetings on issues like trade and the war in Ukraine.
The British leader said the topic of Canada did not come up during those talks and sought to highlight the historic friendship between the United Kingdom and United States.
“I think you’re trying to find a divide between us that doesn’t exist,” Starmer said.
After continuing with his answer for a moment, Trump interrupted with “that’s enough, thank you” and called on another reporter.
Canada is a member of the British Commonwealth of former colonies. While King Charles is technically the head of state for those countries, they are free to make their own decisions as independent nations.
In Canada, the King is represented by the Governor General who acts on the advice of the head of government, the prime minister.
The King and Canada’s allies in Europe have stayed silent while Trump repeatedly talks about the U.S. taking over Canada, at one point threatening “economic force” to do so.
Although Canadian officials have sought to downplay Trump’s threats as unserious, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was heard telling a group of Canadian business and labour leaders earlier this month that Trump’s threat was “a real thing,” tied to his administration’s desire for access to Canada’s critical minerals.
Trump has threatened to impose steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico, citing what he says are large flows of fentanyl coming into the U.S. from those countries. The tariffs are set to come into effect on Tuesday after a 30-day pause, Trump confirmed this week.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.
Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters after a trip to Europe earlier this month that many European leaders don’t fully grasp how the Trump administration is challenging Canada’s economy, when asked why few national leaders have spoken out against Trump’s threats against 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 U.S. and secondly in Canada. Every country in the world is looking at its own reality,” she said.
“I think that it was a wake-up call, for Europeans to hear what we’re going through.”
Joly also added that she did not raise Trump’s comments about Canada being absorbed by the U.S. with Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting with G7 colleagues in Germany. She said she did respond when some U.S. senators “were making jokes about it” on the sidelines of a summit in Munich.
“I said it’s not funny. And this is a question of respect of our country, respect of our leaders, and respect of our people. And I always answer the same thing, which is (that) we will be the best neighbour, the best allies — but we will never be a state and we’ll never be a colony,” she said.
“Canadians are proud people, a courageous people, and they don’t accept any form of rhetoric that is against our own identity as a country.”
Canada’s ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman told Global News last week that talk about making Canada the 51st state “almost never” comes up in her discussions with officials in Washington.
However, she said Trump’s Republican allies have not disavowed his annexation threats either.
—With files from the Canadian Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Read the full article here
