- King Charles, monarch of the United Kingdom, opened Canada's Parliament session on Tuesday.
- In his remarks, he called Canada "strong and free" in response to U.S. President Trump's threats to annex Canada.
- Trump indirectly replied by offering again to make Canada the 51st state — this time putting missile defense on the line.
King Charles III opened a session of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa this week, and used the moment to challenge President Donald Trump’s overtures to Canada, a member of the Commonwealth.
Charles delivered a “speech from the throne” — a tradition based on the continuing relationship between Canada and the United Kingdom. The speech is usually given by the governor general, the king’s representative to Canada, but Charles delivered the remarks this year.
In his speech on Tuesday, the king addressed Trump’s statements about making Canada the 51st state.
Specifically, Charles called “the true north (Canada) ... indeed strong and free,” per The Washington Post.
Trump immediately and indirectly countered the king’s statements by once again petitioning that Canada become the 51st state.
This time, he attached a gift to the offer: missile protection in the form of the planned “Golden Dome” defense system.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “They are considering the offer!”
The Golden Dome, which is not yet under construction, will strengthen America’s defenses against elite weapons.
What the king and the president want
According to Politico, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney petitioned the king to help deliver his government’s “message of sovereignty” to Trump amid the latter’s tariff and annexation threats.
Though Charles did not refer to the president by name, he did emphasize that the U.S. and Canada are “sovereign nations” with a friendship “rooted in mutual respect and founded on common interests.”
Canadian officials told the media that the speech was intended not just for Canadian listeners, but also for the White House.
Canadians overwhelmingly oppose joining the United States — and so do, in fact, a majority of the U.S. public. Carney’s successful campaign was based in part on an anti-Trump, pro-Canadian platform, per The Independent.
Nevertheless, both Canada and the United States are currently negotiating another trade deal, per The Wall Street Journal. If successful, Canada could see Trump’s tariffs on Canadian production removed, including 25 percent taxes on Canadian steel, aluminum, vehicles and more.
United States manufacturers would also see a reprieve from Canada’s retaliatory tariffs, which tax about $43 billion of American imports at 25 percent.
Trump has long expressed ambitions to take over Canada, which is home to vast expanses of natural resources — including developable land, fishable and mineable waters and massive amounts of lumber, coal, oil, gold, per the BBC.
Trump has also expressed serious interest in annexing Greenland. He has in fact insisted that Greenland is vital to American national security. On a May 4 interview, he told media that he would not “rule out” using military force to take over the island, per CNN.
“We need Greenland very badly,” Trump said. “Greenland is a very small amount of people, which we’ll take care of, and we’ll cherish them, and all of that. But we need that for international security.”
Like Canada rejected his annexation proposal, so have Greenland and Denmark.