Rubio to Avoid Trump's Canada Annexation Talk Amidst Trade War and Diplomatic Crisis

Marco Rubio, a US senator, has stated that he will not be discussing Donald Trump's threat to "take over Canada" during his visit to Quebec. This comes as the US Secretary of State arrives amidst a raging diplomatic crisis and trade war.

Rubio's statement comes as the G7 summit is set to take place in La Malbaie, Quebec. The G7 is a group of seven powerful democracies that includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US, and Canada. The summit is intended to coordinate responses from these countries on global issues.

However, Trump's unpredictable foreign policy has left Washington's longtime allies scrambling. European countries have descended further into a tit-for-tat trade war with the US after Trump's tariffs on all US steel and aluminum imports took effect.

Relations with Canada have reached a particular low, and Canada announced billions of dollars more in retaliatory tariffs on Wednesday. Rubio will be arriving in a country that has united around opposition to Trump and his hyper-nationalist US ideology.

The outgoing prime minister, Justin Trudeau, whom Trump has mocked as a "governor", has called the US tariffs "dumb" and gone on the offensive with a "Team Canada" approach to the southern threat.

The US State Department has said that the Secretary of State is heading to the G7 meeting to "advance President Trump's 'America first' foreign policy agenda". Trump, meanwhile, repeated on Tuesday his desire to annex Canada. "The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State," he wrote online.