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U.S. President Donald Trump discussed his plans for Greenland and Canada — both members of NATO — alongside Mark Rutte, former president of The Netherlands and current NATO Secretary-General, during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday.
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Asked by a reporter if there were “any chances” that he would change his mind on tariffs against Canada, Trump was adamant.
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“No,” he said. “We’ve been ripped off for years. We’re not going to be ripped off any more.”
He added: “I love Canada. I love the people of Canada. I have many friends in Canada. The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, the great, how good is Wayne Gretzky?”
Donald Trump says ‘free agent’ Wayne Gretzky wants Canada to stay Canadian
He then spoke of how the U.S. didn’t need anything from Canada, noting: “To be honest with you, Canada only works as a state … as a state it would be one of the great states anywhere.”
He added: “If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it, between Canada and the U.S. … somebody did it a long time ago, many many decades ago, and (it) makes no sense. It’s so perfect as a great a cherished state.”
He also said: “Now there’ll be a little disruption, but it won’t be very long. But they need us, we really don’t need them. And we have to do this, I’m sorry, we have to do this.”
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Trump then asked for another question. Rutte did not weigh in on the matter of Canada, though he did make some remarks on Greenland at another point in the meeting.
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When a reporter asked, “What is your vision for the potential annexation of Greenland and getting them potentially to—” Trump immediately began talking over the question.
“Well, I think it’ll happen,” he said. “And I’m just thinking, I didn’t give it much thought before but I’m sitting with a man who could be very instrumental. You know Mark, we need that for international security — not just security, international.”
Rutte replied: “When it comes to Greenland yes or not joining the U.S. I would leave that outside for me this discussion because I don’t want to drag NATO in that. But when it comes to the High North and the Arctic, you are totally right. The Chinese are using these routes, we know the Russians are rearming, we know we have a lack of icebreakers.”
He continued: “Outside Russia there are seven arctic countries working together on this under U.S. leadership. (It) is very important to make sure that region … stays safe. And we know things are changing there.”
Trump then continued to talk about “national security” as the reason for U.S. interest in the region, adding: “We have a couple of bases on Greenland already, and we have a few soldiers, and maybe you’ll see more and more soldiers go there. I don’t know.”
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