By Katherine Tinsley
3:04pm PST, Feb 28, 2025
Starmer and Trump held a joint press conference on Thursday, February 27, where things got heated between the Republican and a journalist in attendance.
"Did you discuss with President Trump his repeated statements of desire to annex Canada?" the reporter asked Starmer. "And has [
King Charles III] expressed any concern over the president's apparent desire to remove one of his realms from his control?"
The British politician attempted to provide a diplomatic response to the reporter.
"Look, we had a really good discussion, a productive discussion, a good discussion, as a result of which our teams are now gonna be working together on an economic deal," Starmer began.
Even though the U.S. has a history of being a colony of Great Britain, the two nations have been allies for centuries.
"Our team is gonna be working together on security in Ukraine," Stramer continued. "You mentioned Canada. I think you're trying to find a divide between us that doesn't exist."
"We're the closest of nations, and we had very good discussions today, but we didn't discuss," he said, before Trump interrupted him.
Trump was seemingly irritated by the question.
"That's enough," Trump quickly stated.
"Canada," Starmer said, attempting to complete his sentence.
In an interview with Fox News, Trump hinted at incorporating Canada into the U.S.
"I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I'm not going to let that happen," the real estate professional admitted.
"Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?" he rhetorically asked.
Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau addressed Trump's comments in an interview.
"Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing," Trudeau said, according to
CBC.
"They're very aware of our resources of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those," he continued.
