Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has taken a swipe at US president Donald Trump after his bid to make Canada the 51st state. Sir Keir and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney enjoyed a beer in Ottawa ahead of the G7 summit today – the first visit by a British PM to Canada in eight years. While travelling across the Atlantic, the Prime Minister delivered a veiled dig at Mr Trump, hailing Canada as an “independent, sovereign country”.
Mr Carney is hosting world leaders for the G7 summit in Kananaskis in Alberta, where the US president will be joined alongside premiers of France, Italy, Japan, Germany, and the EU. Starting on Sunday, three days of talks will take place which will include security, the global economy and Ukraine.
Sir Keir landed in the Canadian capital on Saturday to meet with the newly elected PM, where he signalled hope for a big trade deal with Canada.
While en route to Ottawa, Sir Keir responded to questions from reporters on whether he condemned the US president’s remarks about Canada becoming the 51st state. The prime minister said: “Canada and the US are our allies. Canada is an independent, sovereign nation, and quite right, too.
“And that’s the basis on which I’ve approached my discussions with all of our partners.
“I’m not going to get into the precise conversations I’ve had, but let me be absolutely clear: Canada is an independent, sovereign country and a much-valued member of the Commonwealth.
“And we work closely with Canada on any number of issues, whether that is defence and security – particularly the training in Ukraine, it’s been something where Canada and the UK have worked very closely together.”
Sir Keir added: “One of the things I want to do is to open the door to taking out further, reducing our trade barriers with Canada. So, I’m really clear where we stand on that.”
The Prime Minister said a new deal would boost UK-Canadian trade, which already represents £28 billion to Britain’s economy. It’s expected that the Prime Minister will tell Mr Carney that he is “open to going further” on free trade than currently permitted by existing treaties.