Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly gave a closing news conference at the G7 summit she hosted in Charlevoix, Que., Friday, saying her European Union counterparts initially thought U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to Canadian sovereignty were a “joke.”
Canada hosted the two-day gathering of G7 foreign ministers in the resort town of La Malbaie, Que., where delegates focused largely on the war in Ukraine and efforts to secure a ceasefire deal.
But U.S. tariffs and Trump’s repeated pledge to make Canada the 51st state loomed large, despite not being on the official agenda.
“The reaction of my colleagues coming from Europe about this absurd threat of annexation was really, ‘Is that a joke?’” Joly told reporters.
“I said to them, ‘This is not a joke.’ Canadians are anxious. They’re proud people. And you are here in a sovereign country and we don’t expect this to even be discussed.”
Joly held a bilateral meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, where she says the two had a “long” discussion.
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His trip to Charlevoix marks the highest-level visit by the second Trump administration since Trump unleashed tariffs and annexation threats against the U.S.’s closest ally.
But Rubio did not take questions from Canadian reporters, including whether it’s appropriate for a G7 member to threaten the sovereignty of another member.
“I wanted to be able to have a frank conversation with him,” Joly said. “Sovereignty is not up for debate. And we had a long conversation on tariffs and trade.”
The U.S. slapped 25 per cent steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada, and virtually every country on earth, including those in the G7. Global reciprocal tariffs are set to hit on April 2, and Canada is also facing a sweeping 25 per cent tariff imposed by Trump earlier in March.
Despite Joly’s face-to-face with Rubio, and a visit by cabinet ministers and Ontario Premier Doug Ford to Washington Thursday, the levies on steel and aluminum remain in place.
“We are putting maximum pressure on the Trump administration, while conveying to the American people, who are the only ones that can ultimately really have President Trump change course, this is bad for you too,” Joly said.
Several G7 delegates have shown solidarity with Canada at the summit, including the European Union’s high representative for foreign and security policy, Kaja Kallas, and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who wore red and white Thursday.
“It was a great fashion statement,” Joly said.
Baerbock applauded the wave of patriotism surging across Canada, but did not explicitly condemn the U.S. president’s 51st state comments.
“What we have learned altogether in these shaky geopolitical times in three years, that especially in moments when your heart is really beating, it’s important to keep a calm head,” Baerbock said Thursday.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, was also asked about Trump’s increasingly imperialistic rhetoric.
“The answer is very clear, Canada will be Canada, also in the future,” he said.
But G7 members, which have all been hit with steel and aluminum tariffs, have been careful about openly criticizing the U.S. during the summit.
“They’re keeping their heads low,” former foreign affairs minister Perrin Beatty said. “They’re worried that if you stick your head over the parapet, it’s apt to get shot off.”
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Joly says Europeans thought Trump’s annexation threat was a ‘joke’
