Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney, with members of his government standing behind him, speaks during a press conference following a swearing-in ceremony of the new Canada’s government in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 14, 2025.
Blair Gable | Reuters
Canada’s new prime minister quickly rebuked President Donald Trump on Friday of the idea that his northern neighbor would become the 51st U.S. state.
“I’ve been clear. The ministers behind me, I think, to an individual, when asked, have been clear,” Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Ottawa, shortly after being sworn in to office.
“We will never, ever, in any way, shape or form, be part of the United States,” Carney said.
“America is not Canada,” said the prime minister, who is a member of the Liberal Party, and the former head of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.
Carney also responded to a question about U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier Friday had said Canada would be better off as a U.S. state.
“It’s crazy,” Carney said. “It’s crazy. It’s very simple. That’s all you can say.”
But Carney also said he looks forward to speaking to Trump, adding “we respect the United States. We respect President Trump.”
Carney’s comments come after weeks of suggestions by Trump that Canada — which is a top U.S. ally and trading partner — would be absorbed into the United States, and as the president imposes stiff tariffs on the neighboring country.
And they came a day after Greenland’s outgoing prime minister sharply rejected Trump’s call that his country — which is a territory of Denmark — become U.S. property.
“The U.S. president has once again aired the thought of annexing us,” Greenland Prime Minister Mute Egede wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday as he called for a meeting of the nation’s political party leaders to address Trump’s argument.
“Don’t keep treating us with disrespect. Enough is enough,” Egede wrote.
Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks during a news conference at Rideau Hall for after a swearing in ceremony on March 14, 2025 in Ottawa.
Dave Chan | Afp | Getty Images
In Ottawa on Friday, Carney told reporters, “We’re masters in our home. We’re in charge. You know?”
“It’s always nice when people say nice things about you, but we don’t need it. We’re not seeking it.”
“Look at the cabinet behind me. You would not have that cabinet in America,” Carney said. “You do not have that cabinet in America. We are a very fundamentally different country.
The PM said “the nature of Canada means we won’t” join the U.S.
“The economics means we shouldn’t,” Carney said. “What you will see from this government is focusing on building here at home, building with different partners abroad. And that will reinforce the point.”
“It’s good — we’re doing it for our own reasons, to be clear. For our own people, for the high-paying jobs,” Carney said. “But eventually the truth will out, and the Americans will understand as well.”
Since re-entering the White House for his second non-consecutive term, Trump has repeatedly discussed taking over Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.
In early February, he said the United States will “take over the Gaza Strip” and “we’ll own it.”
Gaza has been at war with its neighbor Israel since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks by the group Hamas on Israel.
Trump in February said that all the Palestinians living in Gaza should be relocated into other Middle East countries, while the U.S. develops the territory.
That idea has been flatly rejected by Arab countries.