Canada’s Carney considered chance Trump might use military force to make it join US: NYT

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney - a former central banker - said in an interview with the New York Times that the risk of Trump using force could not be ignored.

MONTREAL - Prime Minister Mark Carney considered the possibility that President Donald Trump might use the US military to further his goal of making Canada part of the United States, The New York Times reported.

In an interview, Carney told the Times that the scenario could not be ignored.

Carney did not go into detail about the military threat, the Times said, but used financial markets terminology to characterise the risks.

“I think you have a responsibility in these roles to look at extreme tail risk,” Carney, a former central banker for Britain and Canada, said in the interview published late on Sept 23.

“That’s just risk management. That’s not a base case, but it would be irresponsible not to” prepare, said Carney.

Canada is one of the United States’ closest trade and military partners, but the relationship between the giant neighbours has been rocked by Trump’s trade war and insistence that he wants to make Canada a US state.

Negotiations to ease the trade war broke down on Aug 21.

Carney has repeatedly told Trump that Canada will never become part of the United States.

Polls show many Canadians no longer believe that the US is a friendly neighbour. AFP