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Influential leader of Canada's Ontario province seeks Trump, Musk meeting: US 'needs us like we need them'

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Influential leader of Canada's Ontario province seeks Trump, Musk meeting: US 'needs us like we need them'

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OTTAWA-After President-elect Trump mused about using “economic force” to acquire Canada as the 51st state during his Mar-a-Lago news conference on Tuesday, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded on social media that “there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

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.

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Doug Ford, a former businessman and conservative like Trump 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.”

WHO IS PIERRE POILIEVRE? CANADA’S CONSERVATIVE LEADER SEEKING TO BECOME NEXT PRIME MINISTER AFTER TRUDEAU EXIT

Doug Ford, Ontario’s premier, speaks to members of the media as he arrives for a meeting in Ottawa, Canada, on Feb. 7, 2023. (James Park/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

At a Toronto news conference on Monday following Trudeau’s resignation announcement, Ford chided Trump with a “counteroffer” to his Canada-as-a-51st state idea. 

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“How about if we buy Alaska and throw in Minnesota?” the premier said at Queen’s Park, Ontario’s legislature.

Ford jokingly told Fox News Digital that he heard from Canadians after making those remarks that he should have chosen “somewhere warmer, like Florida or California.”

“California never votes for him anyway,” he added.

At his Monday news conference, Ontario’s premier said that “under my watch,” annexing Canada “will never, ever happen.”  

Ford is also taking Trump’s tariff threat seriously.

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President-elect Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau talk prior to a NATO meeting in Watford, Hertfordshire, England, Dec. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

Last month, his Progressive Conservative government launched a multimillion-dollar U.S. ad campaign on television and streaming apps touting Ontario as an “ally” to generate “more workers, more trade, more prosperity, more security.”

“You can rely on Ontario for energy to power your growing economy, and for the critical minerals crucial to new technologies,” says the 60-second ad.

Ford said the 25% tariff against Canada, which Trump plans to implement on his first day in office on Jan. 20, would hurt millions of American and Canadian workers.

“Nine million Americans produce products for Ontario alone every single day,” he said. “The problem is China shipping goods into Mexico and Mexico slapping a made-in-Mexico sticker.”

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JUSTIN TRUDEAU’S RESIGNATION MET WITH GLEEFUL REACTION FROM CONSERVATIVES ONLINE: ‘THE WINNING CONTINUES!’

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are heading the Department of Government Efficiency. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Ontario is ready to take retaliatory measures “that will really send a message to the U.S.” in response to the imposition of U.S. tariffs, said Ford, who was involved in the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement during the first Trump administration, but would now like Canada to have separate deals with the U.S. and Mexico.

“It’s unfortunate because retaliation is not good for either country,” he offered, noting that Ontario is the top exporter to 17 states and the second largest to 11 others. 

“The last thing I want to do is hurt those people,” said Ford. “I want to create more jobs in the U.S., more jobs in Canada. And we can do that by making sure that we toughen up and put tariffs on places like China.”

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By way of example, he said that “someone in Texas who purchased a GM pickup truck made in Oshawa, [Ontario] might have paid between $50,000 and $60,000,” and with a tariff, “would be paying 70 some-odd thousand.”

“It just doesn’t make sense whatsoever,” Ford said. 

Tractor trailers drive across the Ambassador Bridge border crossing from Windsor, Ontario, to Detroit, Michigan, on Feb. 14, 2022. (Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images)

He would like to have a face-to-face meeting with Trump and said he has reached out to U.S. senators and governors to make that happen. A sit-down with SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – whom Trump appointed to co-lead, with former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency” – is also on Ford’s wish-list.

Ford said Trump “doesn’t realize” that Ontario is the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner, amounting to about US$344 billion in 2023, “split equally down the center.”

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Ontario’s premier said he wants to ship more electricity and critical minerals to the U.S., which “needs us like we need them.” 

TRUMP REACTS TO TRUDEAU RESIGNATION: ‘MANY PEOPLE IN CANADA LOVE BEING THE 51ST STATE’

In 2012, the premier and his late brother, Rob, who was mayor of Toronto at the time, met Trump, along with his daughter, Ivanka, when they were in the city to open the former Trump International Hotel and Tower, now unaffiliated with The Trump Organization and known as The St. Regis Toronto.

Ford, who ran a Toronto-based family business, Deco Labels & Flexible Packaging, before entering municipal politics as a city councilor in 2010, considers Trump “a shrewd operator” and “a smart businessperson.”

The incoming president “knows about Ontario,” the premier said.

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“Not one senator, not one governor, not one congressperson or businessperson, has said that Canada is a problem,” said Ford, who opened a Deco branch in Chicago in 1999.

He said Trump has not set his sights on such other U.S. allies as the United Kingdom and France, but “wants to target” the U.S.’s “closest friend,” Canada. 

“I’m not too sure if it’s personal against Trudeau, but Trudeau is on his way out, so hopefully we’ll have a better conversation,” said Ontario’s premier, who added that he would consider taking a run at federal politics in the future.

On Monday, Trump posted on Truth Social that “the United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat.” 

Doug Ford campaigns at Cambrian College in Sudbury, northern Ontario, on April 11, 2018. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star)

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“Justin Trudeau knows this, and resigned,” said the next, and 47th, U.S. president.

But Trudeau is still the prime minister, and Ford and the premiers of the other nine provinces and three territories will meet with him next Wednesday in Ottawa to address the Trump tariff issue.

Despite his departure as prime minister sometime over the next two months when the next Liberal leader is expected to be chosen, Trudeau should not think “he’s off the hook” and Canadian premiers “will hold his feet to the fire” in ensuring that Canada is ready to respond to the Trump administration’s imminent and punitive trade measure, said Ford.

He chairs the Council of the Federation – a gathering of Canada’s premiers, which has kept Canada-U.S. relations top of mind and has made avoiding U.S. tariffs “a priority,” according to a statement issued last month.

“Canada and the U.S. form one of the largest integrated markets in the world, with more than C$3.5 billion [about US$2.4 billion] worth of goods and services crossing the border each day. The U.S. sells more goods and services to Canada than it sells to China, Japan and Germany combined.”

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To help assuage Trump’s concerns over border security, Ford’s government launched on Tuesday “Operation Deterrence,” to crack down on illegal crossings, and drugs and guns – 90% of which are entering Ontario from the U.S., the premier told Fox News Digital.

On drugs, he said his government is also collaborating with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to identify the source of fentanyl ingredients – and whether they originated in “China or Mexico or the U.S.”

Last month, the Trudeau government announced its own border-security plan.

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Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’

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Stocks fall and oil prices gain after Trump warns the Iran ‘clock is ticking’

HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks mostly retreated and oil prices jumped on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump warned Tehran that the “clock is ticking” as U.S.-Iran negotiations over a permanent end to the war stall.

U.S. futures fell and markets in Japan and South Korea pulled further back from their records. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1% to 60,815.95, a decline led by technology-related stocks. It reached all-time intraday high levels last week above 63,000.

The yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond surged to as high as 2.8%, its highest level since the late 1990s, part of a shift toward higher yields as the Bank of Japan gradually raises interest rates and higher energy costs raise expectations of rising inflation. That’s up from around 2.55% just one week ago.

Seoul’s Kospi climbed 0.3% to 7,516.04 after trading lower earlier in the day. It crossed the 8,000 mark for the first time on Friday, supported by buying of technology shares driven by the boom in artificial intelligence, but later declined partly on profit-taking by investors.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.4% to 25,596.68. The Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1% lower to 4,131.53, after China reported weaker-than-expected retail data for April.

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Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.5% to 8,505.30.

Taiwan’s Taiex dropped 0.7%, while India’s Sensex fell 0.1%.

Oil prices rose after Trump warned Iran in a social media post that “the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them” following a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump has set deadlines for Iran and then backed off, so investors have remained cautious about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz and how it is impacting global energy flows, including oil and gas. The strait is still mostly closed, and the U.S. has also imposed its own sea blockade on Iranian ports since last month.

A drone strike over the weekend on a United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant added to worries over a potential escalation in the conflict.

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Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.7% to $110.02 per barrel. It was trading at roughly $70 a barrel in late February before the start of the Iran war. Benchmark U.S. crude was trading 0.8% higher to $106.31 per barrel.

“Re-escalation risks are increasing,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a research note. While there has also been a pick up on shipping activities over the past week around the strait, they said, “this can change quickly.”

The pair also noted that the oil market was reacting to the lack of tangible results on the Iran war after last week’s widely-watched summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, even as the White House said both the U.S. and China had agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open.

U.S. officials had hoped that Beijing could use its influence, given its economic ties with Iran, to help broker a peace agreement and reopen the strait. Trump said last week in an interview that Xi told him China “would like to be of help” in negotiating an end to the war. So far it’s been unclear how Beijing might do that.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury was at around 4.60%, up from 4.47% last Thursday and sharply higher than the nearly 4% level it was holding at before the Iran war.

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On Friday, the benchmark S&P 500 dropped 1.2% from the record it set the day before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1% and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite lost 1.5%.

In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.86 Japanese yen from 158.62 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1635, up from $1.1622.

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Canada confirms hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak that has killed three passengers

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Canada confirms hantavirus case linked to cruise ship outbreak that has killed three passengers

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Canadian health officials on Sunday confirmed that one of four Canadians who returned from the MV Hondius cruise ship, the subject of an international Andes hantavirus outbreak, tested positive for hantavirus. Three people connected to the outbreak have died.

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The Public Health Agency of Canada confirmed the positive test after British Columbia’s top public health officer previously described the case as a “presumptive positive.”

“One individual’s sample was confirmed positive for hantavirus,” the agency said in a statement.

Officials said additional testing will be conducted at a national laboratory. It was not immediately clear whether that testing was for confirmation, strain characterization or another purpose.

CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER DESCRIBES UNCERTAINTY AFTER 3 DEATHS AMID HANTAVIRUS PROBE

Experts say cruise outbreaks get more attention due to public reporting rules, but many travelers still plan to sail as booked. (Myloupe/Universal Images Group)

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The development comes as global health officials continue monitoring the rare hantavirus outbreak tied to the MV Hondius, which has sickened multiple passengers.

As of May 13, the World Health Organization said 11 cases had been identified in connection with the cruise outbreak, including eight confirmed cases, two probable cases and one inconclusive case. Those figures included three deaths. The Associated Press later reported that the Canadian confirmation brought the number of people from the ship who had tested positive to 10.

Canadian health officials said four Canadians returned home from the MV Hondius, though only one has tested positive for the virus.

RARE HANTAVIRUS HUMAN-TO-HUMAN TRANSMISSION SUSPECTED ON LUXURY CRUISE SHIP WHERE 3 HAVE DIED

The rare Andes virus, which was linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship outbreak, is the only known hantavirus strain that has the capability to spread from person to person, usually through prolonged close contact. (Andres Gutierrez/Anadolu)

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The confirmed patient and a traveling companion — identified as a Yukon couple in their 70s — returned from the cruise together. The companion later tested negative, officials said.

A third person in their 70s from Vancouver Island remains in isolation, along with a British Columbia resident in their 50s.

So far, no confirmed U.S. cases tied to the cruise ship have been reported, though WHO said as of May 13 that one U.S.-repatriated passenger had inconclusive laboratory results and was undergoing retesting.

HANTAVIRUS DEATHS ON CRUISE SHIP HIGHLIGHT DANGERS OF RODENT-BORNE DISEASE

Pictured is the MV Hondius, the cruise ship tied to a hantavirus outbreak after a stop in Argentina that left three passengers dead. (Europa Press Canarias via Getty Images)

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Last week, however, health officials in Ontario County, New York, announced they were investigating a suspected locally acquired hantavirus case unrelated to the cruise ship.

The Ontario County Public Health Department said there was no risk to the general public. Officials also said the strain typically seen in the United States is not known to spread from person to person.

The outbreak linked to the MV Hondius began after the Dutch cruise ship, carrying 147 passengers and crew members, departed Argentina on April 1 for a South Atlantic voyage.

TRAPPED CRUISE SHIP PASSENGER SHARES UPDATE ON CLEANLINESS OF SHIP AMID DEADLY HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK

The outbreak has prompted heightened precautions internationally, including in the Netherlands, where Radboud University Medical Center quarantined 12 staff members after officials said a hantavirus patient’s blood and urine were not handled under the strictest protocols recommended for the virus strain.

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The outbreak has also sparked comparisons to the coronavirus pandemic. However, Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel previously told Fox News Digital there is “no comparison.”

He noted hantavirus is difficult to spread.

Passengers evacuated from the hantavirus-stricken Hondius cruise ship walk with their belongings after disembarking at Eindhoven Air Base, Netherlands, on May 12. (Piroschka van de Wouw)

“It’s not airborne … in terms of respiratory droplets hanging in the air,” he said. “It’s very difficult to transmit.”

While coronavirus “moved in the direction of humans in a significant way,” hantavirus has not, except for “very rare” cases of human-to-human transmission, he added.

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The World Health Organization has assessed the risk to the global population as low, while noting that current evidence suggests subsequent human-to-human transmission may have occurred on board. Andes virus is the only hantavirus known to have documented person-to-person transmission, though such spread is considered rare.

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Siegel also noted hantavirus cases have been reported in the United States for decades, though they remain “very rare.”

Fox News Digital’s Brittany Miller and Angelica Stabile, along with The Associated Press, contributed to this report.

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Moment of collision between two Navy jets at Idaho air show

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Moment of collision between two Navy jets at Idaho air show
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Two US Navy jets collided during an air show at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, sending both aircraft crashing to the ground in front of spectators. All four crew members ejected safely before impact.

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