Former Canadian leader says citizens should accept ‘any level of damage’ for independence

‘I would be prepared to impoverish the country and not be annexed, if that was the option we’re facing,’ Stephen Harper says. Former Canadian Prime Minster Stephen Harper said that citizens should “accept any level of damage” to ensure the country preserves its independence. President Donald Trump was on the verge of fomenting a trade war with his northern neighbors before last week deciding to hold off imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canadian imports for 30 days.

Despite the reprieve, Trump says the tariffs will be implemented on March 4 if his border concerns aren’t alleviated. But, he says, there is another option for Canada to avoid the hefty import taxes: by becoming the 51st U.S. state. Harper, who served as Canadian prime minister between 2006 and 2015, urged citizens to weather the looming Trump-induced storm at the launch of his book Flags of Canada in Ottawa, adding that “our history, our identity and our cultures are worth preserving.”.

“Now, because I do think that if Trump were determined, he could really do wide structural and economic damage, but I wouldn’t accept that. I would accept any level of damage to preserve the independence of the country.”. Harper was one of five former prime ministers who wrote an open letter Tuesday thanking Canadians for their “national spirit” in the face of Trump’s “threats and insults.” Despite his praise, he said it’s important Canada has a contingency plan ready in the instance Trump’s levies are implemented.

“Important in that is to have a plan of how we would reorient our economy, so we would recover that prosperity again, and not just solve the damage,” he told the audience. U.S. ambassador to Canada under the Biden administration, David Cohen, argued that Trump’s threat is empty. “The United States has no authority to annex Canada and to make it a state if Canada is not interested in engaging in those conversations,” the former envoy told Politico Tuesday. “The repeated invocation of Canada as a 51st state is puzzling to me at best.”.

Just days earlier, Trudeau told a gathering of business leaders in Toronto that the U.S. “very much want to be able to benefit” from Canada’s resources, according to a reocrding obtained by The Star and CBC. According to the outlets, Trudeau said that he believes that Trump’s desire to absorb the nation is “real.”. Trump signed an executive order on Monday imposing 25 percent tariffs on global imports of steel and aluminum including from Canada – the top exporter of aluminum to the U.S. – effect of March 12.

Alongside the imposition of tariffs on Canada – along with Mexico and China – Trump’s threats could impact 161 countries, equivalent to 83 percent of the globe, according to a tally by The Independent. It comes as Trump recently escalated calls to purchase Greenland for national security purposes, despite Denmark insisting the Arctic island is not for sale. At the start of the new year, the president also pointed to “economic security” as a reason for the takeover, with the island’s untapped mineral resources in great demand.

Greenland’s 800,000 square miles “contains approximately 31,400 million barrels oil equivalent of oil” and around 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, according to an assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey. On Tuesday, Georgia Representative Buddy Carter unveiled a new bill in an attempt to assist Trump with acquiring the autonomous Danish territory, while suggesting a name change to “Red, White, and Blueland.”.