Q&A: Could Trump really invade Canada?

Tina Brown (0:02)

This is a Global Production.

Christiane Amanpour (0:04)

The threat of the United States invading was completely unacceptable and unnecessary.

Tina Brown (0:10)

Just can't for the life of themselves wonder what the heck he's doing attacking a neighbor with which they do a huge amount of business.

Christiane Amanpour (0:16)

Carney is basically saying, this is what the President of the United States says. The United States is much stronger than we are in every way, so we have to be prepared. Trump constantly threatening to invade NATO allies, by the way.

Tina Brown (0:31)

This is always the problem with Trump. You can blow him off because it sounds absolutely absurd, and most people do at this point, but then he goes and does something and you think, well, we should have paid attention.

Christiane Amanpour (0:44)

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Q&A episode of The Ex Files with me, Christiane, here in London, and our special guest host, Tina Brown, who's in New York. Tina, hi.

Tina Brown (0:55)

Hi, Christiane, how are you?

Christiane Amanpour (0:57)

I'm good, and this is your first Q&A with us, so it's going to be cool. And of course, everybody knows this is where we answer viewer questions, whether by ex, by Instagram, by email, whatever it might be. So Tina, as you're the guest, you go first today.

Tina Brown (1:11)

Well, it's actually a question that you're far better off answering than I am. This is from Emily on X. I was alarmed, she says, to read, Mark Carney say that Canada has prepped for a possible US invasion.

Do you think that's the smart thing for him to do? Is there any realistic chance this invasion could happen, given how much Trump has talked about Canada becoming the 51st state? Do you know something that I don't know, Christiane?

Christiane Amanpour (1:36)

I am going to have a stab at it. I don't think there is any visible preparation that the United States is planning to invade and seize Canada. However, President Trump has talked about Canada being the 51st state many, many times. He probably even said it during 1.0. And because it's combined with all the threats and a bluster he made over Greenland, which really was the straw that broke the allies back after years of essentially bending the knee or whatever term you want to use and trying to appease Trump, trying to do their best to be small and hope he doesn't, you know, take it out on them economically. Greenland really made them angry that this was a division in NATO, that the threat of the United States invading was completely unacceptable and unnecessary because the US has a very robust security arrangement. It has just managed to sign an accord with Denmark, who is the sovereign power at the moment over Greenland, which is also Greenland is self-governing, but a security arrangement that Greenland also signed up to, which gives basically the US what it's always had. Nonetheless, that's what it is.

So Carney is basically saying, this is what the president of the United States says. The United States is much stronger than we are in every way, so we have to be prepared.

I think that that's smart. I think it's smart of Carney to say that, to take the threat seriously, but to not allow it. As we know, Carney has ever since he became premier, has been taking his middle powers must find workarounds doctrine all over. He started in Davos at the beginning of this year. He went to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg just a couple of weeks ago, before the UN General Assembly in September. And he has laid out a plan whereby countries remain, on best terms they can with the United States, but have to prompt themselves and prop themselves up by doing workarounds and finding allies in all other parts of the world to help with their trade and with their common defense and such things. So that is what I think is going on. How does it feel to you just what do people say at dinner parties or wherever they are about Trump constantly threatening to invade NATO allies, by the way?

Tina Brown (3:59)

Well, I mean, you know, the trouble is that he's now no one believes anything that he says. And in some ways, that's dangerous too, because Trump very often does what he says he's going to do. In fact, when people really didn't pay that much attention to what he was planning in exile, for instance, in between his two terms, and this paper was produced, Project 2025, which laid out all these outlandish things that he was going to do, guess what? He's done most of them. So, I mean, actually, this is always the problem with Trump. You know, you can blow him off because it sounds absolutely absurd, and most people do at this point. But then he goes and does something and you think, well, we should have paid attention. So it's, you do have to, he's right about that, Carney. You do have to sort of be on the alert because it's the right signal to send to Trump.