President Donald Trump repeated his suggestion that Canada become the 51st on Sunday, noting that it would not be subjected to his incoming tariffs should the country join the U.S.
"We pay hundreds of Billions of Dollars to SUBSIDIZE Canada. Why? There is no reason," Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. "We don’t need anything they have. We have unlimited Energy, should make our own Cars, and have more Lumber than we can ever use. Without this massive subsidy, Canada ceases to exist as a viable Country. Harsh but true!"
"Therefore, Canada should become our Cherished 51st State," Trump added. "Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada – AND NO TARIFFS!"
Trump has for weeks suggested the United States should take control of Canada through economic pressure.
Citing the flow of illicit drugs across the northern border, Trump signed an order Saturday to implement a 25% tariff on goods entering the United States from Canada. The order, which takes effect Tuesday, also puts a 10% duty on energy or energy resources from Canada. The order states, "gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across our borders and into our communities," adding that "Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs."
Trump also said he would implement tariffs of 25% on goods from Mexico, as well as 10% on imports from China due to the flow of drugs across U.S. borders.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum both vowed retaliation on Saturday.
"We categorically reject the White House's slander of the Government of Mexico for having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention to interfere in our territory," Sheinbaum said, adding that she instructed her administration officials to implement "tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico's interests."
Trudeau said Canada would impose 25% tariffs on $155 billion of U.S. goods, including "immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods effective Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 days."
"I don't think we're not at all interested in escalating, but I think that there will be a very strong demand on our government to make sure that we stand up for the deal that we have struck with the United States," Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman told ABC News' "This Week" on Sunday.
Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman said Canadians were disappointed and perplexed by President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on imports from the country during an interview on Sunday.
"Canadians are perplexed, I think disappointed. We view ourselves as your neighbor, your closest friend, your ally, you know, a country whose citizens have fought and died with you around the world in defense of values that we share, who come to the aid of the Los Angeles fires, most recently, and I think are really perplexed by this move. So I don’t think anybody will need to tell Canadians what to do. I think that they will make their decisions on their own," she told ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
Trump signed an executive order authorizing the tariffs on Saturday, which will go into effect Tuesday, consisting of a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.
Stephanopoulos asked Hillman if the Canadian citizens felt betrayed.
"I think they’re confused. I don’t think they understand where this is coming from. I think they know the degree to which we have made every effort to address the president’s concerns, and so they just don’t understand where this is coming from, and probably there’s a little bit of hurt, right?" she responded.
Hillman said Canada and the U.S. had people who travel back and forth between the two countries and touted a partnership between them.
"We have 400,000 to 500,000 people that move back and forth between our two countries every day. Businesses, tourists, students, workers, and there’s a sense of partnership, of family, of being each other’s best, as I say, best customer, best friend. So I think that this is something that we really don’t, the Canadians don’t understand," Hillman added.
The Canadian ambassador said that Trump likely does value the U.S. partnership with Canada, and said "I think that we’re going to have to see where this takes us."
Trump said Friday that he was not worried about American consumers taking a hit and said the tariffs will ensure that other countries treat the U.S. "fairly."
"There may be temporary, short-term disruption, and people will understand that," Trump told reporters Friday in the Oval Office.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the tariffs were due to illegal fentanyl.
"The president will be implementing tomorrow a 25% tariff on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada, and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed tens of millions of Americans," Leavitt told reporters on Friday. "These are promises made and promises kept."
Trump's executive order for the tariffs said, "Gang members, smugglers, human traffickers, and illicit drugs of all kinds have poured across our borders and into our communities."
"Canada has played a central role in these challenges, including by failing to devote sufficient attention and resources or meaningfully coordinate with United States law enforcement partners to effectively stem the tide of illicit drugs," the order continued.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" was once again booed in Canada ahead of a sporting event.
The latest anti-American display took place at the Scotiabank Arena before the Toronto Raptors took on the Los Angeles Clippers. Fans booed the American national anthem as a 15-year-old female sang it. A mix of boos and cheers were heard before she received a resounding applause for the Canadian national anthem, "O, Canada."
The theme of Canadians booing the American anthem began Saturday night as the Ottawa Senators and the Calgary Flames hosted NHL games.
The boos seemingly occurred as President Donald Trump followed through on his promise to place tariffs of 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% on imports from China. Any energy resources from Canada would be hit at a 10% rate.
In a statement obtained by Fox News Saturday, the Trump administration said the order is in response to an "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, (that) constitutes a national emergency."
Ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing his resignation, Trump said he would "love" if Canada could become the "51st state."
Trudeau has since lamented the tariffs that the Trump administration has levied.
In a fact sheet released by the White House on Saturday, the U.S. is implementing tariffs against Canada, Mexico and China to hold them accountable "to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country." This "extraordinary threat," the White House said, "constitutes a national emergency under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act."
However, Trudeau claimed that "less than 1% of fentanyl and less than one% illegal crossings into the United States come from Canada."
FOX Business’ Christopher Guly and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
But, before the home crowd heard its own anthem, they let out boos at the end of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
The game came on the same day that President Donald Trump signed an executive order, which will go into effect Tuesday, consisting of a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on imports from China.
Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff, according to the White House. In a statement obtained by Fox News Saturday, the Trump administration said the order is in response to an "extraordinary threat posed by illegal aliens and drugs, including deadly fentanyl, (that) constitutes a national emergency."
Ahead of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announcing his resignation, Trump said he would "love" if Canada could become the "51st state."
On their four-game homestand that wrapped up following their 6-0 victory, the Senators hosted all USA teams – there are seven Canadian teams in the National Hockey League and 25 teams based in the states.
The Senators will kick off a four-game U.S. road trip against the Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning (two games), and Florida Panthers before returning home on Feb. 22 to host the Montreal Canadiens.
The long layover comes due to the upcoming 4 Nations tournament featuring the USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden.
Fox News Digital's Andrea Margolis, Brooke Singman and Diana Stancy contributed to this report.
A manhunt is underway for a 32-year-old woman suspected of buying the handguns used in the killing of a Vermont Border Patrol agent last week, according to a report.
Law enforcement agencies in several states are searching for Michelle J. Zajko, who is considered "armed and dangerous," Albany’s Times Union reported, citing police records.
U.S. Border Patrol Agent David "Chris" Maland was gunned down near the Canada-Vermont border Jan. 20, and, four days later, Teresa Youngblut, 21, was taken into custody.
"The United States Attorney’s Office District of Vermont has charged Youngblut with assault on a federal law enforcement officer," the FBI’s office in Albany said at the time. "Our hearts remain with our partners at U.S. Border Patrol Swanton Sector as they mourn this tremendous loss."
Maland was shot and killed during a traffic stop of Youngblut between Newport and Orleans, Vermont. Her passenger, Felix Bauckholt, was also armed but was fatally shot by federal agents after Youngblut opened fire.
Zajko allegedly bought .40-caliber and .380-caliber handguns in February 2024 in Mount Tabor, Vermont, that were used in Maland’s shooting, the Times Union reported, citing court documents.
Zajko is also considered a "person of interest" in a double murder in Pennsylvania and another murder in California, prosecutors revealed, without naming her.
Maland, a Minnesota native and U.S. Air Force veteran, worked as a Border Patrol agent at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Newport Station. He spent nine years in the military and 15 working for the federal government.
He was also a K-9 handler and previously served as a Border Patrol agent in Texas near the southern border, Maland's family told The Associated Press.
"On January 20, 2025, at approximately 3:00 pm, an on-duty, uniformed United States Border Patrol (USBP) Agent initiated a stop of a blue 2015 Toyota Prius Hatchback with [a] North Carolina license plate ... to conduct an immigration inspection as it was driving southbound on Interstate 91 in Coventry, Vermont," an FBI criminal complaint obtained by Fox News states.
"The registered owner of the vehicle, Felix Baukholt, a citizen of Germany, appeared to have an expired visa in a Department of Homeland Security database. Youngblut was driving the Prius, and Baukholt was the lone passenger in the Prius.
"Between approximately 3:00 pm and 3:15 pm, agents reported gunshots at the scene," the affidavit added. "Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Cameron Thompson was notified of the incident and responded to the scene of the stop, arriving at approximately 3:35 pm.
"He spoke with two of the Border Patrol Agents involved in the incident. They described that both Baukholt and Youngblut possessed firearms and that Youngblut drew and fired a handgun toward at least one of the uniformed Border Patrol Agents without warning when outside the driver's side of the Prius."
Fox News Digital has reached out to the FBI's Albany office.
Tom Green has never been a fan of the glitz and glam of Hollywood.
In a new interview with The New York Times, the comedian and actor, 53, opened up about his decision to move back home to his native country of Canada and explained why he enjoys the simpler things in life.
"I’m not really a Hollywood guy," Green, who left Los Angeles in 2021, said. "I started to feel like I wasn’t being true to my authentic self."
Green, who is promoting his new documentary, "This Is The Tom Green Documentary," said fans are going to get an inside view of what his day-to-day life entails these days.
"People are probably going to be surprised that I’m not, like, completely crazy," Green said. "There’s a sort of a wholesome heartwarming thing to this — that I have a close relationship with my family, that I love animals, that I enjoy doing a lot of things that a great many people in the world enjoy doing, like getting out into the woods."
While Green, who lives on a farm, enjoys the quiet life, he's staying busy with an upcoming U.S. tour that combines stand-up comedy and music from his new country album, "Home to the Country."
Green isn't the only star to ditch Hollywood lately.
Daniel Stern, best known for playing one of the Wet Bandits, Marv, in the classic 1990 holiday film "Home Alone," spends most of his time raising cattle and creating sculptures on his farm in Ventura, California.
"Hello, as you will come to discover, I live on a farm, and we grow tangerines here," Stern said in a TikTok video that has since gained a lot of attention.
"I juice them up and then freeze them and give them away to my friends."
During a trip to Montreal in Canada, Lee showed off her failed skiing attempt with photo and video of her laying down on her front in skis after falling down right in front of the slope entrance. She claims it will be the last time she tries to ski.
"First time skiing," she wrote. "Omg never again."
A video of her laying on the snow, which was taken by her friend Samira Ahmed and re-shared to Lee's own story, showed the gymnast laughing as she squirmed on the snow. A caption on that video read, "This is why I stay off the slopes."
While fans can certainly expect not to see Lee compete in the upcoming 2026 Milan Olympics, her struggles in skiing certainly isn't for lack of athleticism or coordination.
Lee is the 2020 Olympic all-around gold medalist and uneven bars bronze medalist and the 2024 Olympic all-around and uneven bars bronze medalist. She also helped contribute to the U.S.'s team gold medal in 2024 and silver in 2020.
She has also received many prominent sports honors and awards, including in 2021, when she was named Female Athlete of the Year by Sports Illustrated and Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation. She was even included in Time Magazine 100, which is the publication's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The premier of a key oil region in Canada is open to talking with President Donald Trump about reopening the Keystone Pipeline, which, according to experts, could strengthen energy security and affordability.
Danielle Smith, the premier of Alberta, Canada, said on Tuesday that she was interested in talking to the Trump administration about potentially reopening the Keystone XL oil pipeline – a system that was designed to carry oil from Alberta to the U.S. through to states like Illinois, Texas and Oklahoma.
The pipeline has been at the forefront of political debate since the project began construction in 2010, and was eventually halted by former President Barack Obama before it was finished. Trump revived it during his first term, but in 2021, former President Joe Biden again blocked the project.
Trump could resume construction during his second term, and do so with the help of Smith, who said that she wants to have conversations about potential cross-border pipelines, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
"What I would propose is—are there ways that we can look at increasing pipeline access, perhaps some new routes or perhaps some new proposals on existing routes?" Smith told the outlet. "So, whether it's a Keystone 2.0 or something else, I'm looking forward to starting those conversations in earnest once the interior secretary is sworn in." Trump tapped Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., to lead the U.S. Department of the Interior, but he has not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. However, this week, Trump rescinded Biden's executive order that canceled the pipeline's permits, a move that could reopen potential construction of the oil system.
"Restarting the Keystone XL pipeline aligns with President Trump’s agenda to lower food and energy costs by bolstering North American energy infrastructure and reducing reliance on costly imports," Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute (AEI), told Fox News Digital.
"The pipeline’s ability to transport heavy sour crude, rich in sulfur, will support the production of affordable fertilizers, a critical input for agriculture, ultimately lowering food-production costs," Isaac said. "Additionally, the increased supply of crude oil will stabilize fuel prices, reducing transportation and energy costs that significantly impact food prices. This project strengthens energy security, fosters economic growth, and directly contributes to making energy and food more affordable for American families."
Another expert said that Trump will likely face litigation if he chooses to proceed with construction of the pipeline, but that Congress could help limit legal action.
"The Trump administration will, no doubt, provide the needed permits for completing the Keystone XL, but litigation is sure to occur," Steve Milloy, a senior fellow at the Energy & Environmental Legal Institute and former Trump EPA transition team member, told Fox News Digital. "The trick will be to limit the litigation so that investors don’t get scared off. Congress could aid the process by ordering the pipeline completed and limiting the litigation."
In December 2022, the Biden administration's Department of Energy (DOE) published a report that said the Keystone XL project would have created between 16,149 and 59,000 jobs and would have had a positive economic impact of between $3.4 and 9.6 billion, citing various studies.
Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau suggested that President-elect Trump's suggestion that Canada become America's "51st state" was a distraction from the tariff threat.
"I know that as a successful negotiator, he likes to keep people a little off balance. The 51st state, that’s not going to happen," Trudeau told MSNBC’s "Inside with Jen Psaki" on Sunday. "It’s just a non-starter. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. But people are now talking about that, as opposed to talking about what impact 25% tariffs [has] on steel and aluminum coming into the United States, on energy, whether it's oil and gas or electricity."
"No American wants to pay 25% more for electricity or oil and gas coming in from Canada," Trudeau said in the interview with Psaki, President Biden’s former White House press secretary. "That’s something I think people need to pay a little more attention to. And perhaps the idea of a 51st state is distracting a little bit from a very real question that will increase the cost of living for Americans and harm a trading relationship that works extremely well."
Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports. The president-elect also said that if Canada merged with the U.S., taxes would decrease and there would be no tariffs.
The president-elect has also taken shots at Trudeau, referring to him as the "governor" of Canada. Last Monday, Trudeau announced that he would resign as Canada's prime minister once his Liberal Party chooses a new leader on March 9.
"From my very first conversations with him back in 2016, he told me how much he admires Canada, how much he appreciates and likes us, so there is a certain amount of flattery in this that he thinks that we are as great as we are," Trudeau said of Trump on Sunday. "He’s right, we are great. We’re also very, very proud of being Canadian. If you talk to any Canadian, you ask them to define what it is to be Canadian, they’ll talk about all sorts of different things, but one of the things we will point out is, ‘and we’re not Americans.’"
On Trudeau’s trip to Mar-a-Lago in November, the Canadian prime minister said the topic of the U.S. annexing Canada did come up, but Trudeau said once he joked that Canada could annex Vermont or California as a sort of trade, Trump "immediately decided it was not that funny anymore, and we moved on to a different conversation."
"This isn’t out of the blue that he’s doing this, but my focus has to be not on something that he’s talking about that will not ever happen, but more on something that might well happen, that if he does choose to go forward with tariffs that raise the costs of just about everything for American citizens, that on top of that, we’re going to have a robust response to that," Trudeau said.
"We are ready to respond with tariffs as necessary," Trudeau said.
Canadian officials say that if Trump follows through with his threat of punishing tariffs, Canada would consider slapping retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, toilets and some steel products.
Trudeau recalled that Trump previously put tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum during his first term, and Canada responded by putting tariffs on bourbon, Harley Davidson motorcycles, orange juice, playing cards and other such items that Trudeau argued Canadians could easily find replacements for.
"It ended up causing a lot of loss in American businesses for whom Canada is their number one export partner. We are the number one export partner for about 35 different U.S. states, and anything that thickens the border between us ends up costing American citizens and American jobs. That’s not what President Trump got elected to do," Trudeau said. "I know he got elected to try and make life easier for all Americans, to support American workers. These are things that are going to hurt them."
Trump said last week that the U.S. does not need oil – or anything else – from Canada, but almost a quarter of the oil that the U.S. consumes each day comes from Canada. The energy-rich western province of Alberta exports 4.3 million barrels of oil a day to the U.S., according to the Associated Press. Data from the United States Energy Information Administration shows that the U.S. consumes 20 million barrels a day, and produces about 13.2 million barrels a day.
Canada, a founding partner of NATO and home to more than 40 million people, is also the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $2.7 billion worth of goods and services cross the border each day.
Trump has said that he would reconsider his tariff threat if Canada made improvements in managing security at the Canada-U.S. border, which he and his advisers see as a potential entry point for illegal immigrants.
Trudeau has said that less than 1% of illegal immigrants and fentanyl cross into the U.S. from Canada.
Nevertheless, after his meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Trudeau announced an increase in spending on border security, expressing willingness to address Trump’s concerns in hopes that he would reconsider his tariff threat.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and President-elect Trump met on Saturday and discussed the "mutual importance" of a U.S.-Canadian energy relationship and the hundreds of thousands of American jobs supported through Albertan exports.
"Over the last 24 hours I had the opportunity to meet President [Trump] at Mar-a-Lago last night and at his golf club this morning," Smith wrote in a post on X. "We had a friendly and constructive conversation during which I emphasized the mutual importance of the U.S. - Canadian energy relationship, and specifically, how hundreds of thousands of American jobs are supported by energy exports from Alberta."
She continued, saying she had similar discussions with "several key allies" of Trump’s incoming administration in which she became encouraged to hear about their support for "a strong energy and security relationship with Canada."
"On behalf of Albertans, I will continue to engage in constructive dialogue and diplomacy with the incoming administration and elected federal and state officials from both parties, and will do all I can to further Alberta’s and Canada’s interests," Smith said. "The United States and Canada are both proud and independent nations with one of the most important security alliances on earth and the largest economic partnership in history. We need to preserve our independence while we grow this critical partnership for the benefit of Canadians and Americans for generations to come."
Smith posted about the meeting on X, nearly a week after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation amid growing pressure from within his own Liberal Party and heightened criticisms over his handling of the economy and threats levied by Trump.
However, as Trudeau announced on Monday his plan to resign as prime minister once the Liberal Party that he leads chooses his successor, the biggest pushback to Trump’s pitch to annex Canada – and his planned 25% tariffs on exports from the country – has come from the premier of Canada’s most populous province, Ontario.
Doug Ford, a former businessman and conservative who has served as Ontario’s 26th premier since 2018, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the president-elect’s targeting Canada is both "crazy" and "ridiculous."
He said the bilateral focus should be on "strengthening" what the Canadian government calls a nearly trillion-dollar two-way trade relationship to "make the U.S. and Canada the richest and most prosperous jurisdiction in the world."
The president-elect has been trolling Canada in recent weeks, floating the idea of it becoming the 51st state and posting a doctored photo of him standing beside a Canadian flag on top of a mountain.
Trump has also been pushing for Denmark to sell the North Atlantic island of Greenland to the U.S.
Fox News' Christopher Guly contributed to this report.
As OutKick reported on Thursday, Vancouver Island University's women's basketball team refused to play against PACWEST conference opponent Columbia Bible College, alleging that the Christian school created an unsafe environment because VIU has a transgender player.
Vancouver Island released a statement saying that its players don't feel safe playing at Columbia Bible College.
"Intimidation, harassment, and discrimination have no place in athletics," the statement read, according to Fox News. "VIU stands in full support of our student-athletes and affirms the right of all athletes to compete in an environment that prioritizes their safety and well-being."
CBC immediately denied the allegations that they created an unsafe environment, and countered by saying that they had put measures in place for additional security for the games against VIU.
The "intimidation, harassment and discrimination" allegations stem from multiple incidents in late October when the two teams first played one another this season.
Vancouver Island transgender player, Harriette Mackenzie, said in an Instagram video that the CBC coach, Taylor Clagett, went on a "tirade" to a VIU staffer complaining about the team having a male on its women's basketball team.
Mackenzie, who leads VIU in points, rebounds and blocks and is the tallest player on the team, further said that CBC players attempted to injure the transgender athlete with purposeful flagrant fouls.
The players from the Christian school released a statement of their own, signed by every player, defending their head coach and denying the accusations made by Mackenzie and VIU.
"Coach Claggett has repeatedly shown respect for all athletes from many backgrounds throughout her career as a youth and college coach. We have the privilege of interacting with Coach Claggett on a daily basis and know that the concerns she has voiced are rooted in a care for the safety of her team," the statement, which was sent to OutKick, said.
"The attack on Coach Claggett’s character, and the character of our team, over the past three months has been based on misinformation and one side of a complicated scenario."
Normally, in this situation, those games would count as forfeit losses for Vancouver Island, the #5 team in the CCAA. However, the PACWEST decided to simply postpone those games for the time being, something that Columbia Bible College said represented a double-standard.
"In the past, when a team has refused to participate and travel to a scheduled game, they have received 0 points in the classification. By postponing the games this weekend, PacWest has contradicted the standard operating procedure. There has been no clear rationale provided to our team to justify this departure from normal procedures," the statement said.
It seems clear that Coach Claggett doesn't believe that biological men, like Mackenzie, should be competing in women's sports. That's the majority opinion of most American citizens, although Canada tends to lean more left than the United States, so perhaps there are fewer citizens who hold that common-sense belief in the neighboring country.
But the picture painted by the CBC players isn't unlike the one often seen in American sports when women stand up for themselves and their sports and demand that biological males compete against other males and not against females. They're faced with harassment and calls of "bigotry" for simply wanting fair competition.
It's unfortunate that the players and the coach have faced "derogatory messages" for their stance, but that's the reality. And, as CBC pointed out, the PACWEST appeared to show favoritism towards VIU, likely because the conference fears backlash from the trans mafia if they don't comply with their demands.
That's how these people often get their way. They use bullying tactics to force opponents into silence. But the players for Columbia Bible College decided not to be quiet. Good for them.
President-elect Donald Trump not only wants to make America great again, he appears to be angling to make America bigger.
Trump has turned up the volume in recent days on his calls to acquire Greenland, regain control of the Panama Canal and make Canada the nation's 51st state.
The president-elect on Tuesday night once again trolled America's neighbor to the north, posting on social media two doctored maps that showed Canada as part of the United States.
"Canada and the United States. That would really be something," Trump said hours earlier at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. "They should be a state."
A day earlier, the president-elect argued in a social media post that "many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State."
While he said he would only use "economic force" to convince Canadians to join the U.S., he would not rule out military force when it comes to Greenland, the massive ice-capped island in the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans that for centuries has been controlled by Denmark, and the Panama Canal, which the U.S. ceeded control of to Panama over 40 years ago.
"They should give it up because we need it for national security. That’s for the free world. I’m talking about protecting the free world," Trump said of his longtime ambitions to acquire Greenland.
His comments came as Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect's eldest son, made a day trip to Greenland, flying aboard Trump's campaign airliner.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded, saying Greenland had made it clear that it is not for sale.
"There is a lot of support among the people of Greenland that Greenland is not for sale and will not be in the future either," Frederiksen said.
Pierre Poilievre, leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, also shot back at Trump's musings.
"Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country," he emphasized in a social media post.
Additionally, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also returned fire at Trump's threat to use "economic force" to absorb Canada, saying there is not "a snowball's chance in hell" of Canada becoming the 51st state.
Trump's recent mocking of the longtime Canadian prime minister, repeatedly referring to him as "governor" along with his threat to impose massive tariffs on Canada, was likely a contributing factor in Trudeau's resignation announcement earlier this week.
It was not just Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Trump even pledged during his press conference to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America."
While Trump's efforts at American expansion - which has a prominent place in the nation's history - may never come to fruition, they are immediately forcing world leaders to react and respond, and likely will foreshadow the blunt effect his second administration will have on the globe.
"I think what he's doing is setting the tone for the next four years, which is that America is the dominant superpower in the world. We're the protector of freedom and democracy across the world. We're the only country capable of pushing back against China, and it's time we started acting like we're that country," veteran Republican strategist and communicator Ryan Williams told Fox News.
Matt Mowers, a veteran GOP national public affairs strategist and former diplomat at the State Department during Trump's first administration, emphasized that "Donald Trump has adapted Teddy Roosevelt’s mantra for the 21st century and ‘speaks loudly and carries a big stick’. He recognizes that to change the paradigm and repel Chinese and Russian economic expansion in our own hemisphere, he needs to speak boldly about exerting American influence in the region."
"Already, you have seen just how his mastery of the bully pulpit has expedited a political earthquake in Canada. This ensures that America remains dominant in our own backyard, which puts America’s interests first, expanding our trade and security cooperation," Mowers argued.
Not everyone obviously agrees with Trump's muscular approach.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, America's top diplomat in President Biden's administration, appeared to take aim at the president-elect.
"I think one of the basic propositions we brought to our work over the last four years is that we're stronger, we're more effective, we get better results when we're working closely with our allies. Not saying or doing things that may alienate them," Blinken said Wednesday at a news conference.
Blinken predicted that "the idea expressed about Greenland is obviously not a good one. But maybe more important, it's obviously one that's not going to happen. So we probably shouldn't waste a lot of time talking about it."
The Democratic National Committee accused Trump of having a "pathetic Napoleon complex" which it claimed "has left him more focused on invading Greenland than on lowering costs and growing the economy for the American people."
"While Trump is distracted by bizarre threats against our allies and busy doling out favors to his billionaire Cabinet picks, Democrats are focused on standing up for working families and making sure they don't get stuck with the bill from Trump's reckless agenda," DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd charged.
A women's college basketball team in Vancouver, Canada, is refusing to play a Christian university's team over alleged abuse against a trans athlete. The Christian university has denied the allegations.
Vancouver Island University released a statement on Wednesday announcing it will not play its upcoming games against Columbia Bible College. The Vancouver Island statement alleges that during an earlier game between the two teams on Oct. 25, a Columbia Bible coach treated the transgender player in a way that violated the Coach's Code of Ethics.
"Intimidation, harassment, and discrimination have no place in athletics," the statement read. "VIU stands in full support of our student-athletes and affirms the right of all athletes to compete in an environment that prioritizes their safety and well-being."
The school has also requested its athletic conference, the Pacific Western Athletic Association (PACWEST), to not penalize the team for its refusal to play.
Columbia Bible has provided a statement to Fox News Digital addressing Vancouver Island's decision and statement.
"This was surprising news to us," the statement read. "CBC stands for safe play for all. Accusations that CBC, its coaches, players, and fans are a safety threat are simply untrue and misinformed."
Columbia Bible's statement also included claims that the university was developing a safety plan, which included added security for the games that involved the trans athlete.
"CBC has a reputation for providing a safe environment, however, out of an abundance of caution, CBC in cooperation with PACWEST, developed an event safety plan specifically for these games. We received input from VIU and the Abbotsford Police Department. This plan included extra security among other measures," the statement read.
All of the players on Vancouver Island's team have signed a letter saying they do not feel safe playing at Columbia Bible after the October incident.
The trans player is third-year forward Harriette Mackenzie, who is openly transgender, as reported by multiple outlets.
Mackenzie posted a video to the athlete's Instagram page on Oct. 30, alleging Columbia Bible head coach Taylor Clagett "cornered one of our athletic staff and went on a tirade about how I shouldn’t be allowed to play."
Mackenzie said she was also deliberately fouled to the ground by a Columbia Bible player.
"I got two-hand chucked to the ground by No. 13 without a play on the ball in sight, then head coach Clagett can be seen applauding in support," the trans athlete said.
In response, Clagett posted her own statement on Instagram, claiming that Mackenzie's statements were inaccurate.
"My intention has nothing to do with a specific athlete, but instead, the safety of female athletes in their sport," she wrote.
Vancouver Island has submitted a formal complaint to the PACWEST, as an investigation into the matter is currently ongoing. The university says that Mackenzie's participation is in compliance with conference policy.
"VIU strictly adheres to the rules and regulations established by PACWEST and the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), including the CCAA’s policy on transgender student-athlete participation," its statement reads.
The PACWEST released its own statement on the matter on Nov. 1.
"The PACWEST is aware that participation of transgender student-athletes has recently received public attention. As a member of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), the PACWEST follows national policies and procedures for all sports that lead into CCAA championships, including the CCAA's policy on transgender student-athlete participation," the statement read.
"Furthermore, the PACWEST encourages everyone to engage in education through the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) with their findings around diversity and inclusion and transgender people in sport. Creating a safe and inclusive environment for all participants is a shared responsibility."
In the U.S., President-elect Trump has vowed to ban trans athletes from competing in girls' and women's sports. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that Canada join the U.S., potentially as the 51st state.
President-elect Donald Trump is keeping up his push to make Canada the United States' 51st state.
"Canada and the United States. That would really be something," Trump said Tuesday at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. "They should be a state."
Trump highlighted that if Canada were to join the U.S., it wouldn't be by using military force but instead through "economic force."
A day earlier, the president-elect argued in a social media post that "many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State."
Trump emphasized that "if Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!"
In recent weeks, the former and now president-elect has trolled the United States' neighbor to the north, musing about it becoming the 51st state, and posting a doctored photo of him standing beside a Canadian flag high atop a mountain.
Additionally, his recent mocking of longtime Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, repeatedly referring to him as "governor," along with his threat to impose massive tariffs on Canada, was likely a contributing factor in Trudeau's resignation announcement this week.
Trump's fixation on Canada comes as he also turns up the volume on his calls for Denmark to sell the sparsely populated but massive North Atlantic island of Greenland to the U.S.
However, what if the unlikely expansionist scenario of Canada joining the U.S. actually came to fruition?
Hypothetically, it could be a massive political boon for Democrats at the expense of Republicans.
Canada's modern political history points to the left.
"The Liberals have been in charge of the Canadian federal government for the majority of the time since World War Two," longtime Republican strategist Dave Carney noted to Fox News.
It is likely the voters supporting those governments would vote for Democrats rather than Republicans if Canada became the 51st state.
With a population of slightly more than 40 million, Canada would become the most populous state in the U.S., edging out blue-state California for the honors.
Canada's addition to the U.S. as the nation's largest state could give a big boost to the Democrats in the battle for Congressional majorities and the electoral vote count in presidential elections.
Rich Lowry, editor-in-chief of the prominent conservative magazine National Review, warned in an opinion piece for the New York Post that "Canada would be a blue-state behemoth, matching California in population…and, presumably, in reliably Democratic politics."
"We might think we’d annex Canada and make it more like us, but — with two Democratic senators and a huge tranche of electoral votes for Democratic presidential candidates — Canada would surely make us more like it," Lowry predicted.
Veteran political scientist Wayne Lesperance agreed, noting that "Canada as a state would bring millions of voters more likely to align with the Democrats' agenda and ideology. And with 40 million voters, the new 51st state would be the largest state in the union with a congressional delegation much more likely to oppose Trump and his party's political agenda."
Lesperance, president of the New Hampshire-based New England College, said if Trump "is serious, and does bring a proposal forward, I would expect tremendous support for his initiative…especially from Democrats."
Democratic strategist and political analyst Van Jones, on CNN, said that Canada would "be a huge blue state" and that "if Canada wants to come here and rescue us, I am more than happy."
However, Carney, noting that the likelihood of Canada joining the U.S. is extremely slim, said that it is a great negotiating strategy by Trump when it comes to negotiations with America's northern neighbor.
"He has an ability to use tools that no one would have ever thought of," Carney said. "He has the ability and the willingness to use every tool in his toolbox."
Carney, the top political adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns, added that Trump "uses the soft power of the presidency to get people to pay attention and get what he wants."
A former top adviser to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave a grim outlook on the world leader’s political future, days after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump floated NHL legend Wayne Gretzky as a possible replacement.
A countdown started earlier this month on Trudeau’s days in office after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned from his cabinet. On Friday, Trudeau’s former chief adviser Gerry Butts thought it was "unlikely" that Trudeau would lead the Liberal Party in the next election.
Butts wrote in a Substack newsletter that Freeland’s resignation was a big blow for the party, and it could mean that Trudeau's political fate is sealed.
"If, as is now widely expected, Mr. Trudeau's resignation is imminent, the only way forward is a real leadership race," Butts wrote, via The Canadian Press.
"If you want to know who can play hockey, put on a hockey game. It doesn't matter who you think you support at this moment, we'll all have a more seasoned view if we see these people in live action."
Butts served as Trudeau’s principal secretary when he won election in 2015. His strong words came days after Trump teased Canada over its political turmoil, even floating Gretzky as a possible replacement for Trudeau.
"I just left Wayne Gretzky, ‘The Great One as he is known in Ice Hockey circles. I said, ‘Wayne, why don’t you run for Prime Minister of Canada, soon to be known as the Governor of Canada - You would win easily, you wouldn’t even have to campaign,’" Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
"He had no interest, but I think the people of Canada should start a DRAFT WAYNE GRETZKY Movement. It would be so much fun to watch!"
Since Freeland’s resignation, Trudeau has faced calls to resign. Trump weighed in on Freeland’s departure as well.
"The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau," Trump posted to his Truth Social, trolling Trudeau, after previously suggesting Canada should become the 51st state in the U.S.
"Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!"
The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee chair John Williamson said that lawmakers will start meetings on Jan. 7 to consider a vote of no confidence in the Liberal government, according to Reuters. The vote would have to pass the House of Commons to defeat the government.
Canadian Parliament will reconvene on Jan. 27, according to Reuters.
"It is now clear that the Liberal Government does not have the confidence of Parliament. Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and NDP members — representing a majority of MPs - have all announced they will vote non-confidence in the Liberal Government," Williamson wrote in his letter.
Two top Canadian ministers headed to President-elect Trump's home in Florida on Thursday to talk about border security and trade as the incoming president's inauguration day nears.
New Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc and Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly will be in Palm Beach, Florida on Thursday for the talks this week, Jean-Sébastien Comeau, a spokesperson for LeBlanc, told the Associated Press.
Comeau said that LeBlanc alongside Joly will meet with Tom Homan, Trump’s incoming "border czar," after Christmas to discuss Canada’s plan to secure the border as part of a bid to avoid sweeping tariffs.
The spokesperson said LeBlanc and Joly "look forward to building on the discussions that took place when the Prime Minister met with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago last month, as well as the positive call the Ministers held with Mr. Tom Homan earlier this month."
Along with discussing border security, the Canadian leaders hope to center talks on fentanyl trafficking and "negative impacts" of Trump's tariffs on goods.
"The Ministers intend to focus on Canada’s efforts to combat fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration and the measures outlined in Canada’s Border Plan, as well as the negative impacts that the imposition of 25% tariffs on Canadian goods would have on both Canada and the United States," Comeau added in a statement.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Canada when he takes office in January unless the country reduces the flow of migrants and fentanyl into the U.S.
Trump has made snide remarks about Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on social media, referring to the ally as "Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada."
The statement on Christmas Day came after Trump suggested to Trudeau that if tariffs on Canada would kill its economy, then perhaps Canada should become the 51st U.S. state.
Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on Canadian imports, meanwhile, have unnerved Canada, which is highly integrated with the U.S. economy.
About 60% of U.S. crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85% of U.S. electricity imports as well.
Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian – or $2.7 billion U.S. – worth of goods and services cross the border each day. Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump team for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
President-elect Trump dished out a fiery Christmas message on Wednesday in which he wished a "Merry Christmas" to "Radical Left Lunatics," told the 37 prisoners whose death row sentences were recently commuted by President Biden to "GO TO HELL!" and more.
"Merry Christmas to the Radical Left Lunatics, who are constantly trying to obstruct our Court System and our Elections, and are always going after the Great Citizens and Patriots of the United States but, in particular, their Political Opponent, ME. They know that their only chance of survival is getting pardons from a man who has absolutely no idea what he is doing," Trump declared on Truth Social.
"Also, to the 37 most violent criminals, who killed, raped, and plundered like virtually no one before them, but were just given, incredibly, a pardon by Sleepy Joe Biden. I refuse to wish a Merry Christmas to those lucky "souls" but, instead, will say, GO TO HELL! We had the Greatest Election in the History of our Country, a bright light is now shining over the U.S.A. and, in 26 days, we will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. MERRY CHRISTMAS!" he added.
Biden recently announced that he commuted the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row to life sentences without the potential for parole.
"Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss," the president said in a statement, but noted that he is "more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level."
In a separate post, Trump declared, "Merry Christmas to all, including to the wonderful soldiers of China, who are lovingly, but illegally, operating the Panama Canal (where we lost 38,000 people in its building 110 years ago), always making certain that the United States puts in Billions of Dollars in 'repair' money, but will have absolutely nothing to say about 'anything.'"
He also discussed Canada, referring to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the "Governor" of America's northern neighbor, while suggesting that Canadian businesses would boom if the nation became a U.S. state.
"Also, to Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada, whose Citizens’ Taxes are far too high, but if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World. Likewise, to the people of Greenland, which is needed by the United States for National Security purposes and, who want the U.S. to be there, and we will!" Trump declared.
Two pioneers of artificial intelligence — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats for humanity.
Hinton, who is known as the godfather of artificial intelligence, is a citizen of Canada and Britain who works at the University of Toronto, and Hopfield is an American working at Princeton.
"These two gentlemen were really the pioneers," said Nobel physics committee member Mark Pearce. "They ... did the fundamental work, based on physical understanding which has led to the revolution we see today in machine learning and artificial intelligence."
The artificial neural networks — interconnected computer nodes inspired by neurons in the human brain — the researchers pioneered are used throughout science and medicine and "have also become part of our daily lives, for instance in facial recognition and language translation," said Ellen Moons, a member of the Nobel committee at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Hopfield, whose 1982 work laid the groundwork for Hinton's, told The Associated Press Tuesday, "I continue to be amazed by the impact it has had."
Hinton predicted that AI will end up having a "huge influence" on civilization, bringing improvements in productivity and health care.
"It would be comparable with the Industrial Revolution," he said in an open call with reporters and officials of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
"Instead of exceeding people in physical strength, it’s going to exceed people in intellectual ability. We have no experience of what it’s like to have things smarter than us. And it’s going to be wonderful in many respects," Hinton said.
"But we also have to worry about a number of possible bad consequences, particularly the threat of these things getting out of control."
The Nobel committee also mentioned fears about the possible flipside.
Moons said that while it has "enormous benefits, its rapid development has also raised concerns about our future. Collectively, humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way for the greatest benefit of humankind."
Hinton shares those concerns. He quit a role at Google so he could speak more freely about the dangers of the technology he helped create.
"I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control," Hinton said.
For his part, Hopfield, who signed early petitions by researchers calling for strong control of the technology, compared the risks and benefits of machine learning to work on viruses and nuclear energy, capable of helping and harming society.
Neither winner was home when they received the news. Hopfield, who was staying with his wife at a cottage in Hampshire, England, said that after grabbing coffee and getting his flu shot, he opened his computer to a flurry of activity.
"I’ve never seen that many emails in my life," he said. A bottle of champagne and bowl of soup were waiting on his desk for him, he added, but he doubted there were any fellow physicists in town to join the celebration.
Hinton said he was shocked at the honor.
"I’m flabbergasted. I had no idea this would happen," he said when reached by the Nobel committee on the phone. He said he was at a cheap hotel with no internet.
Hinton, 76, helped develop a technique in the 1980s known as backpropagation that has been instrumental in training machines how to "learn" by fine-tuning errors until they disappear. It’s similar to the way a student learns from a teacher, with an initial solution graded and flaws identified and returned to be fixed and repaired. This process continues until the answer matches the network’s version of reality.
His team at the University of Toronto later wowed peers by using a neural network to win the prestigious ImageNet computer vision competition in 2012. That win spawned a flurry of copycats and was "a very, very significant moment in hindsight and in the course of AI history," said Stanford University computer scientist and ImageNet creator Fei-Fei Li.
"Many people consider that the birth of modern AI," she said.
Hinton and fellow AI scientists Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun won computer science’s top prize, the Turing Award, in 2019.
"For a long time, people thought what the three of us were doing was nonsense," Hinton told told the AP in 2019. "They thought we were very misguided and what we were doing was a very surprising thing for apparently intelligent people to waste their time on."
"My message to young researchers is, don’t be put off if everyone tells you what are doing is silly."
And Hinton himself uses machine learning in his daily life, he said.
"Whenever I want to know the answer to anything, I just go and ask GPT-4," Hinton said at the Nobel announcement. "I don’t totally trust it because it can hallucinate, but on almost everything it's a not-very-good expert. And that’s very useful."
Hopfield, 91, created an associative memory that can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data, the Nobel committee said.
"What fascinates me most is still this question of how mind comes from machine," Hopfield said in a video posted online by The Franklin Institute after it awarded him a physics prize in 2019.
Hinton used Hopfield's network as the foundation for a new network that uses a different method, known as the Boltzmann machine, that the committee said can learn to recognize characteristic elements in a given type of data.
Bengio, who was mentored by Hinton and "profoundly shaped" by Hopfield’s thinking, told the AP that the winners both "saw something that was not obvious: Connections between physics and learning in neural networks, which has been the basis of modern AI."
He said he was "really delighted" that they won the prize. "It’s great for the field. It’s great for recognizing that history."
Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize for their discovery of tiny bits of genetic material that serve as on and off switches inside cells that could one day lead to powerful treatments for diseases like cancer.
The prize carries a cash award of $1 million from a bequest left by the award's creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
Nobel announcements continue with the chemistry prize on Wednesday and literature on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Oct. 14.
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