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Ottawa says Trump's talk about making Canada 51st US state violates international law

Stephane Dion said that if the United States wants to comply with international law, it should not "threaten its neighbors with invasion"

OTTAWA, February 10. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump’s statements about making Canada a part of the United States go against international law and the UN Charter, Canada’s ambassador to France Stephane Dion told reporters in Paris.

"You know that according to international law it's not only to invade a neighbor that's against international law in the charter of the UN, it is to threaten. So we're against that," he said as quoted by CBC.

Dion added that if the United States wants to comply with international law, it should not "threaten its neighbors with invasion."

The US president said on February 9 that Canada isn't a viable country without the US., and warned Canada should no longer depend on Washington for military protection. Trump also reiterated his desire to see Canada become the 51st US state.

Earlier in the day, Mike Waltz, Trump's National Security Adviser, said that the US president was not planning to invade Canada.

Trump has repeatedly said that many Canadians are in favor of their country becoming the 51st American state. He believes that such a union will bring economic stability to Canada and protect it from external threats, which, according to the US president, come from Russia and China, among others. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded by saying his country would never become the 51st state.

Trudeau is yet to comment on Trump's latest statement. He is now in Paris at an international conference on the development of artificial intelligence.